THE Harlem speech by Nelson Mandela

Pages 8-9

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 54/NO. 26 JULY 6, 1990 $1.25

Judge rules against Curtis before July trial begins

'Continue sanctions,' says Nelson Mandela

BY PETER miERJUNG Iowa District Court Judge Arthur Gamble

ruled on June 25 that Mark Curtis' 1988 conviction on frame-up rape and burglary charges establishes his guilt in a Civil lawsuit against him by Keith and Denise Morris.

Tile Morrises are the parents of the woman Curtis allegedly assaulted. Tiley are seeking fmancial damages from Curtis for the "pain and suffering" they claim he inflicted on their daughter. The trial in the lawsuit is scheduled to open July 9 in Des Moines, Iowa, and jurors will now be limited to deciding what kind of fmancial award the Morrises should receive.

·Curtis is currently appealing his 1988 criminal conviction to the Iowa Supreme Court on grounds that he did not receive a fair trial and that his rights under the U.S. Constitution and Iowa state law were violated by the rulings of the trial judge.

In upholding the motion for summary judgment, Judge Gamble wrote that he had "reviewed a partial transcript of the criminal trial" and that "the record demonstrates Cur­tis received a fair trial."

''The factual issues were fully presented to the jury" and "all admissible evidence was received. Tile potential for error by the trial judge was fully reviewed by the Iowa Court of Appeals," Gamble stated. ''The conviction was affirmed in an opinion filed April 24, 1990, by the Court of Appeals," he added

"Curtis was afforded a full and fair oppor­tunity to litigate the issue" of whether he committed the crime of rape "in the criminal trial," the judge said. "It is preclusively es­tablished that Mark Curtis sexually as­saulted" the Morrises' daughter "as alleged in Plaintiff's Petition," he concluded.

Gamble ordered that Curtis' guilt for the purposes of the lawsuit had been established by the criminal trial. ''This matter shall come on trial July 9, 1990, at 9:00a.m. on the issue

Continued on Page 4

BY ANDREA MORELL, GREG McCARTAN, AND IKE NAHEM

A quarter of a million people thronged Boston's riverside park, the Esplanade, to welcome Nelson Mandela and cheer the M­rican National Congress deputy president's call to keep the pressure on the apartheid regime.

"As a result of our struggle, apartheid is falling into pieces," Mandela said to the roar of the crowd. "Our country stands at the threshold of a major and fundamental dem­ocratic transformation. Indeed, victory is in sight."

Mandela's June 23 visit to Boston fol­lowed a packed three-day schedule of rallies, meetings, and press events in New York City. The ANC leader, his wife Winnie Mandela, and other leaders of the liberation organiza­tion are on a 14-day, I 1-city tour of Canada and the United States.

Mandela has focused on explaining the goals and character of the continued battle to rid South Africa of apartheid, why racism and denial of human rights anywhere in the world is a blow to all humanity, and the importance of the worldwide campaign to maintain the economic and political isolation of the hated apartheid system.

"Join us in walking the last mile," he urged the Boston rally. "We have no illusion that it may yet prove to be the most difficult mile of our long march to freedom. Sanctions must be continued until fundamental and irrevers­ible change takes place in our troubled coun-try." .

At the end of his speech, Mandela invited Sen. Edward Kennedy, Gov. Michael Duka­kis, and Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn to join him on the platform in a show of com­mitment to the goal of a democratic, nonra­cial South Africa.

Tile vast multiracial and markedly youth­ful assembly overflowed the Esplanade into surrounding streets and onto nearby rooftops and balconies. Tile ANC colors were every­where among the crowd- on T-shirts, ban-

Continued on Page 9

Special Offer A nevv publication from Pathfinder in time for

African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela's North America tour! Nelson Mandela Speeches 1990: 'Intensify the Struggle to Abolish Apart­held.'

This 74-page pamphlet features seven of Mandela's speeches delivered since his release from prison in February 1990, including his address in Luanda, Angola, and at Wembley Stadium in Lon­don. The pamphlet also includes Mandela's July 1989 letter from prison to P.W. Botha and the Free­dom Charter.

The nevv pamphlet, together with New Interna­tional No.5, 'Nhich features articles on the struggle in southern Africa, and an introductory subscription

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carries on-the-scene re­ports from South Africa and lle'NS about other battles by working peo­ple around the world, makes a powerful pack­age that every trade unionist, anti-apartheid activist, and student will want to buy and read

Available from Pathfinder bookstores listed on page 12, or by mail from Pathfinder, 410 West St., Nevv York, N.Y. 10014. Send $1 per book or pamphlet postage and handling.

100,000 in Harlem welcome African National Congress leader on June 21

Anti-apartheid struggle: challenge for U.S. labor

Since Nelson Mandela began his 11-city tour through North America, he has ad­dressed hundreds of thousands of people who have waited at airports, crowded into stadiums, and lined streets to welcome him and hear him speak. Millions more have

EDITORIAL seen television broadcasts of his speeches, including to the Canadian Parliament, the United Nations, and the U.S. Congress, as well as the many interviews.

Millions of working people have been in­spired and uplifted by the world-renowned freedom fighter and more deeply educated about the goals of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. As Mandela explains the world significance of the fight to overthrow the apartheid system, millions have become

newly motivated to make a contribution in the fight for a democratic South Africa.

Throughout his tour Mandela has pushed to keep international pressure on the apart­heid state, including maintaining economic sanctions. He has explained that although the apartheid system is beginning to crum­ble, major hurdles remain. The masses in South Africa "are ready for the final battle," he said, but significant international support is needed.

As part of this effort Mandela is effec­tively countering the attempt by South Afri­can President F.W. de Klerk to encourage governments throughout the world to lift sanctions. The European Community's deci­sion in Dublin, Ireland, June 26 to keep eco­nomic sanctions in place, despite objections by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, registered the advances Mandela is making.

Continued on Page 14

Efforts to pass antidemocratic constitution in Canada fail BY STEVE PENNER

MONTREAL- On June 25, two days after the defeat of the Canadian federal government's desperate last-ditch efforts to obtain Quebec's signature on the 1982 Ca­nadian constitution, one quarter of a million Quebecois poured into the streets of this city. It was the biggest celebration of the F ere nationale, Quebec's national holiday, since the 1960s. It was backed by all three of Quebec's labor federations and by the main farmers ' organization.

Altogether a half million took part in Fete nationale events across the province.

While organizers tried to keep the Montre­al parade nonpolitical, Quebec nationalist chants were enthusiastically piCked up by a

large portion of the participants. The end of the parade was transformed into a spontane­ous march of tens of thousands. Both were a sea of Quebec flags.

"Meech Lake is dead. Quebec is alive!" was one of the more popular chants.

The Meech Lake constitutional amend­ment was drawn up in 1987 by the federal and Quebec governments in an effort to overcome the opposition of a majority of Quebecois to Canada's 1982 constitution. The amendment stated that Quebec was a "distinct society" within the Canadian federation. The accord was to be approved by all 1 0 Canadian pro­vincial governments and the Ottawa govern-

Continued on Page 13

Sales on the job boosted campaign i'ii. A·ustralia BY RONI McCANN

CHICAGO - Supporters of the Militant, the Spanish-language monthly Perspectiva Mundial, the French-language quarterly Lutte

Andrews from Sydney reported some of the highlights in an inter­view here during the Socialist Work­ers Party convention June 7-10.

tion per table." On some Saturdays supporters

went on regional trips while during the week they sold at political events. A copy of New International issue No.5 on southern Africa and a subscription to the Militant were sold to anti-apartheid activists at a meetingoftheAustraliaAnti-Apart- · heid Movement.

ing region, where they sold door to door and at a pit head (mine portal). They stopped by the offices of the miners' union in Wollongong where they sold a year's Militant subscrip­tion. One person there had already subscribed to the paper at a meeting of the International Miners' Or­ganisation.

who worked inside later asked if they liked it and urged them to get a subscription."

Militant supporters in the plant drew up a list of coworkers and began introducing them to the paper.

A centerpiece of tbe circulation

GETTING THE MILITANT Each week Militant supporters

also called readers whose subscrip­tions were expiring to urge them to renew. "One Perspectiva Mundial reader from Uruguay renewed her subscription, bought another for a friend, and purchased a few Path­finder pamphlets as well," Poulson said.

"Five of the new subscribers in Australia work at TRW car compo­nent factory in Sydney and are members of the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union. TRW is a plant of , 500 workers who come from as many as 50 different coun­tries," Poulson said.

Upon receiving his first issue of the Militant, one worker began read­ing an article on the U.S. tour of Cuban author and economist Carlos Tablada. Another commented on the successful sales campaign in Aus­tralia after noting the final figures in the subscription scoreboard. AROUND

Two of the new readers in the plant have already placed orders for the new Pathfinder book Trade Unions in the Epoch of Imperialist Decay, by Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky that they saw advertised in the Militant.

ouvriere, and the magazine New In­ternational in Australia went over their goal in the recent international circulation campaign, winning 53 new readers. Ron Poulson and Bob

campaign was the collective sales efforts every weekend during the drive, explained Poulson. "We set up tables in Sydney every Satur­day and averaged one subscrip-

Andrews described a regional trip to Wollongong, a city in a coal-min-

He explained the importance of weekly sales at the TRW factory gate. "Some worlcers would buy a copy of the paper and supporters

Sales are up as ANC leader takes cities by storm BY RONI McCANN

"Nelson Mandela stands for F-I-G-H-T! Plain a,nd simple," declared one Brooklyn high school student. "He makes you under­stand that we can believe in something and stick with it until we win," said another. "He's my hero- he's everyone's hero, Black and white!" concluded a third.

As African National Congress leader Nel­son Mandela continues his 11-stop U.S.­Canada tour he is taking cities by storm. Millions of working people have turned out to get a glimpse of him or have heard him on i:adio or TV.

After hearing the ANC leader explain the goals of the freedom struggle in South Africa, thousands and thousands are attracted to his principled and uncompromising stance­and they want to learn more.

Since Mandela began his North American tour June 16, working people, youth, and other opponents of apartheid in Montreal, Toronto, New York, and Boston have pur­chased 869 copies of the Militant and 127 have subscribed. In addition, 2,570 copies of the new Pathfinder pamphlet Nelson Mandela Speeches /990: "Intensify the Struggle to Abolish Apartheid" have been sold, as well as 49 copies of New Interna­tional issue No.5 and $5,349 of Pathfinder literature.

During Mandela's visit, supporters of the Militant are offering introductory 12-week subscriptions to the paper and Nelson Mandela Speeches /990 for $10. For an additional $5 new readers CaQ also pick up a copy of New International No. 5, which features ''The Coming Revolution in South Africa" by Jack Barnes.

After the ftrst week of the tour, all 20,000 copies of Nelson Mandela Speeches 1990 had been shipped out and Pathfmder went back to print. A news release announcing the

2 The Militant July 6,1990

pamphlet was picked up by Associated Press and subsequently appeared in the Los Ange­les Times, New York Amsterdam News, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ocala Star-Banner, and the Salt Lake Tribune.

New York's City Sun featured an ad for the pamphlet and reprinted Mandela's letter to Pieter Botha in the June 20-26 issue. In Boston, Pathfmder Bookstore representative Betsy Soares did a 15-minute interview on the significance of the new pamphlet and the book The Struggle Is My Life by Mandela­also published by Pathfinder- on WZOU radio that aired June 24. The Bay State Ban­ner there also reviewed the book.

In New York, where Mandela received a tumultuous welcome during his three-day stopover, 500 copies of the Militant were sold and 71 people subscribed. As well, 1 ,650 copiesofNelsonMandelaSpeeches1990and morethan$3,000inPathfinderliteraturewere purchased.

At a sales table located outside of Yankee Stadium prior to Mandela's rally June 21, more than 500 copies of Nelson Mandela Speeches 1990, two dozen Militant subscrip­tions, and $1,000 in literature were snapped up by rally-goers.

In New Jersey while Mandela was in the area supporters sold 28 copies of the new pamphlet and two special offers of a Militant subscription and a pamphlet to coworkers in chemical plants, electronic plants, on the railroad, and at the bulk mail center. At the weekly plant gate sale at Newark Interna­tional Airport workers bought three copies of Nelson Mandela Speeches 1990 and one copy of New International No. 5.

Sales of new pamphlet and Militant in Harlem June 21 during Mandela's New

In Boston at a rally to hear Mandela on the Esplanade, 648 copies of Nelson Mandela Speeches 1990 were sold along with 189 Militants and $400 in Pathfinder literature.

Militant supporters are also stepping up sales of the paper and new pamphlet in other cities. In Sydney, Australia, Mandela's tour is the biggest thing on the news, reported Ron Poulson. One worker at a car-compo­nent plant there had already bought The Struggle Is My Life, by Mandela and picked up a copy of the pamphlet as well.

on the job to auto and rail workers. Eight readers were also won to the Militant.

In Norton, VIrginia, during the June 22-24 Coal Employment Project conference of women miners, eight participants signed up to get the Militant for 12 weeks along with a copy of Nelson Mandela Speeches 1990. At the annual miners' gala in Yorkshire, England, on June 16, miners and others bought 50 copies of the Militant and 16 copies of the new pamphlet of Mandela 's speeches.

In Kansas City, Missouri, 89 copies_ of Nelson Mandela Speeches 1990 have been sold during the tour, 64 of which were sold

Get the truth • • • get the

MILITANT Weekly news and analysis on the

struggles of working people worldwide

.Reports from Nelson Mandela's Canada and U.S. tour • News on Eastern and Greyhound strikes • defense of

Mark Curtis • fight for Quebec self-determination

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The Militant Closing news date: June 27, 1990 Editor: DOUG JENNESS Circulation Director: RONI McCANN Nicaragua Bureau Director: CINDY JAQUITH Business Manager: JIM WHITE Editorial Staff: Susan Apstein (Nicaragua), Seth Galinsky (Nicaragua), James Harris, Yvonne Hayes, Arthur Hughes, Roni McCann, Greg McCartan, Selva Nebbia, Judy Stranahan, Peter Thierjung. Published weekly except the last two weeks of December by the Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: Editorial Office, (212) 243-6392; Fax 727-0150; Telex, 497-4278; Business Office, (212) 929-3486. Nicaragua Bureau, Apartado 2222, Managua. Tele­phone 24845.

Correspondence concerning subscriptions or changes of address should be addressed to The Militant Business Office, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014.

Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y., and at addi­tional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Militant, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Sub­scriptions: U.S., Latin America: for one-year subscription send $37, drawn on a U.S. bank, to above address. By first­class (airmail), send $70. Canada: send Canadian $50 for one-year subscription to Societe d'Editions AGPP, C.P. 340, succ. R, Montreal, Quebec H2S 3M2. Britain, Ireland, Af­rica: £28 for one year by check or international money order made out to Militant Distribution, 47 The Cut, London, SEl 8LL, England. Continental Europe: £35 for one year by check or international money order made out to Militant Dis­tribution at above address. Austnilia, Asia, Pacific: send Australian $60 to Pathfmder Press, P.O. Box 259, Glebe, Sydney, NSW 2037, Australia.

Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent the Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials.

Militant/Greg Eastern strikers welcoming Mandela at Manhattan ticker-tape parade

BYJUDYSTRANAHAN Among the many hundreds of thousands

of people who are welcoming Nelson Man­deJa to the United States are members of the International Association of Machinists on strike against Eastern Airlines.

During Mandela's visit to New Yorlc City, strikers turned out at a number of his public appearances.

Strikers Welcome Nelson Mandela." The text explained, "We, the members of the Interna­tional Association of Machinists on strike at Eastern Airlines, join with unions inte,na­tionally in welcoming the freeing of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the African National Congress. These important victo­ries for the people of South Africa strengthen all of us who are fighting for justice through­out the world."

In Boston, Eastern striker and lAM Local 1726 member Maggie Pucci reports her union local encouraged its members to attend the Mandela rally in that city. On June 23

nine strikers participated in the event, which was at Boston's Esplanade along the Charles River.

One of the lAM members who attended the Yankee Stadium rally in New York was John Burke, member of Local1044 on strike in Pittsburgh. Burke, who brought his son Kevin, joined some friends for the eight-hour trip by car.

"I believe in freedom for people in South Africa," Burke said when interviewed. "I draw some parallels between our fight at Eastern and the fight of the people over in South Africa." Explaining further, he said, '"The

situation isn't exactly the same, but what we have in common is that we're both fighting."

When asked what he thought ofMandela's speech that night at the stadium, Burke re­sponded, " I was deeply impressed He.'s pro­moting a single nation, where all races there can live equally." Burke said he really en­joyed being there, and felt very much at home among those gathered.

The Pittsburgh striker explained he thought big changes were coming in South Africa, which couldn't be stopped. "Five million people don't have the right to control 28 million."

At the ticker-tape parade in Manhattan on June 20, where an outpouring ofpeople lined the streets, two dozen Machinists grabbed a spot and draped their banner so it faced the street. It read, "Eastern strikers -welcome Nelson Mandela- Keep the pressure on!" Their banner got a good response from those on the sidewalk.

For the big rally at Yankee Stadium on June 21, strikers purchased a block of 65 tickets so they could attend and bring their families. Some of the Eastern Machinists on strike in Philadelphia joined the contingent at the stadium, as did some lAM members working at TWA and United Airlines.

Unions protest three deaths at smelter

During the rally the Machinists once again gave a big welcome to Mandela by lowering their banner over the stadium balcony so it could be seen from the stage.

Strikers also helped participate in the ad­vance organizing for Mandela's tour. At the stadium when the fund pitch was made by Oeveland Robinson, secretary-treasurer of United Auto Workers District 65, Eastern strikers were among the army of unionists who were assigned the big task of collecting donations from the audience.

Ernie Mailhot, staff strike coordinator of lAM Local 1018 at La Guardia Airport re­ports, 'There's been a lot of interest in Man­dela's tour here among strikers. In the union headquarters we've all been having lots of discussion. People watched Ted Koppel's TV interview with Mandela and were very im­pressed with the ANC leader's response to the questions he was asked."

The strikers in New York distributed a flier atMandelaevents they attended, announcing an expanded picket line for June 23. The leaflet's headline read, "Eastern Airlines

BY MARY MARTIN RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. - More than

200 trade unionists and others rallied outside the Ravenswood Aluminum Corp. plant here June 25 protesting the deaths of three union members.

Dead are Jimmy Lee ~~r. 38, a crane operator, and two plant security guards, Cur­tis McOain, 43, and Peter Baltic, 34. All were members of United Steelworkers of America Local5668.

Dan Stidham, president of the Steelworlc­ers local, explained the purpose of the rally was "to draw attention to the workers' plight, unsafe conditions, and forced overtime, and to commemorate the three deceased worlc­ers."

Also present at the rally were Rider's parents and his 18-year-old son. "What we want is for the union and the company to agree to a solution to stop forced overtime. If a man is sick, let him go home. I don't want anyone else to go through what we've gone through," said Maxine Rider.

Rider suffered a fatal heart attack on June 16 while working overtime on the potline, where raw aluminum ore is smelted at tem­peratures of up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit

Demonstration in Sweden hits firebombing of refugee camps BY BIRGITT A ISACSSON

STOCKHOLM, Sweden- Five hundred people, mostly youth, gathered here on short notice to protest several recent firebombings of refugee camps.

The May 31 demonstration was called by several organizations, including S.O.S. Asyl, a group that has organized church protests in the past for refugee rights. Six refugee camps have been hit by the bombings.

In Laholm, located in southern Sweden, 15 barracks were burned to the ground. Racist epithets were painted on cement walls left standing at the camp. Near Motala, southwest of Stockholm, 11 people, including three children, were hospitalized after a firebomb exploded in the camp there.

In Sweden immigrants are forced to live in the camps while awaiting permission to stay in the country. There are 29,000 refugees living in the camps today, which are located all over Sweden. Some 20,000 are waiting for a decision allowing them to stay. Until then they cannot receive work permits.

Seven thousand have been granted their papers but cannot leave the camps until the

. immigration authorities tell them which city they are allowed to move to. Generally, im­migrants live in the camps for about nine months, but many end up waiting several years.

Eight arrests have been made of suspects in the bombings but no one claimed respon­sibility for them. Whoever the culprits are, however, they have been emboldened by recent anti-immigrant policies of the Swedish government.

In December the government decided that only those refugees who meet the United Nations criteria for political refugee status, a most narrow definition, would be allowed to enter the country. This ruling was met with protests by Swedes and refugees occupying churches.

The day after the recent antiracist demon­stration in Stockholm, the Swedish parlia­ment moved to restrict the rights of refugees even further. It will now be easier for police to arrest asylum-seekers when they arrive if they don' t have identification. They can also legally body search refugees, and their chil­dren can also be. arrested.

and an air temperature that can reach above 140° F.

Four hours prior to his death, Rider, a 17-year employee, had gone to the plant medical department complaining that he didn't feel well. He was told his vital signs were fme and was sent back to work. After his 1Oth hour of worlc, Rider collapsed dead.

Two hundred family members, coworlcers, and local union representatives attended his funeral in Barlx>ursville, West Vrrginia, on June 19.

On June 17 McOain and Baltic died of carlx>n dioxide suffocation in a sub-basement of the plant's cold-rolling mill. Company spokespeople say Baltic apparently died try­ing to share his air pack with McClain.

Baltic and McClain were buried here in Ravenswood on June 20.

Company takes no responsibility McClain "should have had an air pack with

him. Why he didn't, we don't know," Mike Rubin, a company spokesperson said.

Company spokespeople have expressed "condolences" over the deaths but have taken no responsibility for the fatalities.

The Occuj>ational Safety and Health Ad­ministration has launched an investigation into the deaths.

Several of Rider's coworkers told the Charleston Gazette that forced overtime and excessive heat contributed to his death. Char­lie McDowell, grievance chairman of Local 5668, said Rider would still be alive if he had not been ordered to work forced overtime.

Ravenswood Aluminum President Don Worlledge said that while the potrooms were "certainly hot" they were no worse than other aluminum potlines throughout the world.

On June 18 Ravenswood announced it was shutting down one production line and would immediately lay off 70 to 90 employees.

Company blames union The official statement blamed the union

for these layoffs. "An unexpected and unpre­dictable shortage in potroom workers re­cently occurred, requiring union members to work overtime ... Over the past two weeks because of the number of employees missing scheduled work, a critical condition began to develop that threatened the continued oper­ation of the entire reduction plant."

Union members deny the claim that the labor shortage was "recent" or "unpredict­able." Union officer McDowell explained, "Union members have worked thousands of hours of overtime in the potrooms since last September and only 5 percent of that was voluntary."

Matt Munro, a potroom worker for nearly two years and member of the union commit-

tee in charge of organizing a memorial meet­ing and the protest rally, explained the back­ground of the union's fight against forced overtime.

'"This is the first summer that no heat relief . workers were assigned; In the past, extra workers were assigned for the hot weather months when extreme temperatures in the potrooms result in heat stress and heat stroke.

'The same day Rider died, six other work­ers were removed from the potrooms in ambulances. They were packed in ice. One required hospitalization with intravenous so­lution injection. You just don't want overtime in that heat."

In October 1989 the company began lay­ing off worlcers even though the plant was working overtime. Thirty-four workers were laid off and called back during the spring.

Munro explains that at the same time, "four workers were fired in the potrooms,

"The day Rider died, six workers -packed in ice­went out in ambulances."

three for demanding a break before perform­ing extra work assignments and then going to the medical department." But they won their jobs back, he said. The fourth worlcer, the grievance committee representative from the potrooms, "was charged with inciting a work slowdown and fired," he said. His case is still in arbitration.

"In the spring," Munro said, ''the company approached the union wanting to hire a spe­cial category of summer workers for the potrooms who would have no union rights or recall rights. The union refused to make an exception to the contract," he said, "so the company didn't hire anyone. Injuries on the job increased.

"On June 15 the company began forcing over entire shifts to work a total of 16 hours

· in the potrooms," Munro pointed out, and after Rider died, workers refused to work in the potrooms.

'The company then demanded that the union agree to 12-hour potroom shifts, a ' reasonable' offer. The view of the union officers and members was that this offer was intolerable. Many younger workers said, 'I'd rather be laid off than dead.' So the company shut down one potline. To date, 20 workers have received layoff notices," said Munro.

Jimmy Lee Rider's son, Marc, explained, "One thing I want to make clear, I don't want this plant to shut down. I want them to get a good contract so what happened to my father will never, ever happen again."

July 6,1990 The Militant 3

Kaku scores gains in Canada for int'l campaign Mark Curtis is a unionist and

political activist from Des Moines, Iowa, who is serving a 25-year sentence in the John Bennett state prison in Fort Madison, Iowa, on a frame-up conviction of rape and burglary.

of her very successful month-long tour across Canada. The tour ended June 2. Kaku is a leader of the Mark Curtis Defense Committee in Des Moines, and is Curtis' wife.

the Assembly of First Nations, an international organization for the rights of indigenous peoples.

While in Toronto May 24-29, Kaku met many unionists, including Bill Shipman, president of the Inter­national Association of Machinists Local 2323, which organizes Air Canada workers at Toronto's inter­national airport. She also addressed the Human Rights Committee of the Canadian Auto Workers Locall967 at McDonnell Douglas, where seven members endorsed the campaign and more than $100 was contrib­uted.

for Mark Curtis the following after­noon. More than 80 people attended.

Mark Curtis' "struggle is our struggle," Arturo Valencia, repre­sentative in Canada of the Salvador­an union federation .FENASTRAS, told the rally. Other speakers in­cluded Ruth Morris, a prominent prisoners' rights advocate; Zaheer Bhyat of the African National Con­gress (ANC); Michel Prairie, editor of the French-language magazine Lutte ouvriere and a leader of the Communist League; and Barry Weisleder, of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

to hear Kaku and a panel of sup­porters. Norah Hutchinson, an NDP member and prominent prochoice activist, explained that this case "is not about rape. This is why feminist activists support this campaign."

The Mark Curtis Defense Com­mittee is leading an international campaign to fight for justice for Curtis. For more information

In Ottawa on May 22-23 she met Dan Heap, a New Democratic Party (NDP) member of the Canadian Parliament; Kathleen Ruff, from the Canadian Human Rights Advocate; Bettie Sommers, president of the

DEFEND MARK CURTIS! about the case or how you can help, write to the Mark Curtis Defense Committee, Box 1048, Des Moines, Iowa 50311; tele­phone (515) 246-1695.

If you have news or reports on activities in support of Mark Cur­tis from your city or country, please send them to the Militant.

Ottawa and District Labour Coun­cil; and several staff workers of the Labour Council. All are endorsers of Curtis' defense campaign.

Kaku reviewed Curtis' case with . staff workers at the national offices

of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and held discussions with T.N. Stol, national vice-president of the Canadian Brotherhood of Rail­way, Transport and General Work­ers and Ovide Mercredi, a leader of

On May 26 Kaku participated in a march of 300 to protest the cop shooting of Marlon Neal. It was the latest in a series of cop shootings and murders of Blacks in Toronto in recent years. The protest was organ­ized by the Black Action Defence Committee.

In Vancouver, Kaku visited city councillor Harry Rankin and dis­cussed Curtis' fight with several union members and officials. She also spent a day in Victoria, British Columbia's capital, where she met Emery Barnes, a New Democratic Party member of the provincial leg­islature, who endorsed Curtis' de­fense campaign.

Also speaking were Mike Barker, a member of the provincial execu­tive of the Hospital Employees Union; Pam Frache, past president of the British Columbia Federation of Students; Frances MacQueen, a member of Amnesty International; George Lai of the ANC; Claire Culhane of the Prisoners Rights Group; and Katy LeRougetel, a member of the International Asso­ciation of Machinists and a local supporter of the defense campaign.

Altogether, more than $7,000 was raised during Kaku's tour across Canada, surpassing the orig­inal goal of $5,000.

Kate Kaku visited Ottawa, To­ronto, and Vancouver on the last leg

Dudley Laws, a BADC leader, was one of the speakers who joined Kaku at a rally demanding justice A rally of 85 was held on June 1

Nancy Walker from Vancouver, Brit­ish Columbia, contributed to thi:.· week's column.

Iowa court to decide whether to hear Curtis appeal BY PETER THIERJUNG

On June 29 the Iowa State Supreme Court will announce whether it will hear Mark Cur­tis' appeal to overturn his frame-up rape and burglary conviction and grant him a new trial.

Curtis took his case to the state's highest court on May 14 after an appeals court upheld his conviction three weeks earlier. Lylea Critelli, one of Curtis' attorneys, filed a 20-page brief with the Supreme Court outlining the arguments for a new trial.

State Attorney General Thomas Miller and Assistant Attorney General Roxann Ryan filed a 17-page counter-brief on May 25 calling on the court to uphold the conviction. It is the state attorney general's office that makes the decisions on whether to challenge appeals like Curtis'.

Found guilty in September 1988, Curtis is currently serving a 25-year sentence in the John Bennett Correctional Center in Fort Madison, Iowa. The frame-up stems from his · participation in defense efforts on behalf of 17 Latino coworkers who were arrested dur­ing a March 1, 1988 raid by immigration authorities at the Swift meat-packing plant in Des Moines.

Curtis was arrested by Des Moines police on the evening of March 4, 1988, just a few hours after he had joined a meeting to organize protests against the victimization of the im­migrant workers. Following his arrest, he was severely beaten at the police station by offi­cers who called him a "Mexican-lover, just like you love those coloreds." He suffered a shattered cheekbone and required 15 stitches.

Curtis' appeal points out that the woman he was charged with assaulting gave a de-

scription of her attacker that did not match his. "Moreover, no evidence of semen or other physical evidence of sexual contact was collected from" the woman, the brief states. "Traces of dirt, debris, and dog hair consis­tent with that found" on the woman's cloth­ing were not found on Curtis, even though the woman said that "she and her alleged assailant wrestled around on the dirty front porch" of her home.

Right to confront one's accuser The testimony of Des Moines Officer Jo­

seph Gonzalez, who said he caught Curtis at the alleged scene of the rape with his pants down, was "an important component" in the

. conviction, Curtis' appeal points out. Rulings by trial judge Harry Perkins, however, suc­cessfully barred information related to Gonzalez' credibility and prevented cross­examination of Gonzalez about his history of lying. This violated Curtis' constitutional rights and Iowa state law, thus constituting grounds for a new trial, the brief explains.

Curtis' attorneys had attempted to enter evidence at the trial that showed Gonzalez had lied in a previous arrest report and had been disciplined by the police chief with suspension from the police force.

The judge also refused to open Gonzalez' personnel file for Curtis' defense.

The attorney general, however, argues in the state's brief that officer Gonzalez was "never charged with a crime as a result of the incident, that nothing similar had hap­pened regarding this case, and that the inci­dent arose when the officer was trying to protect a confidential informant" and there-

Judge upholds Curtis conviction Continued from front page

of damages," he said. The jury in the lawsuit will now be prevented from making a judg­ment on Curtis' innocence.

A large monetary judgment against Curtis could result in a life-long court harassment campaign, including garnisheeing his wages, to collect the debt from him and his wife Kate Kaku. Curtis was a packinghouse worker until he was arrested in 1988, as was Kaku until she was laid off a few months ago.

"This is a blow to Mark's fight for vindi­cation and for justice," said John Studer, coordinator of the Des Moines-based Mark Curtis Defense Committee. "Judge Gamble's decision deepens the injustice against Mark and upholds his frame-up at the hands of the

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The Militant July 6,1990

Des Moines cops. No justice can therefore be expected to come about from the July 9 trial.

"The judge's ruling assumes that Mark's conviction is a settled question, but it is not," Studer explained. "We intend to fight to reverse that conviction and will take the case to federal courts, if necessary.

"Just as employers in a strike battle use economic pressures to break workers' deter­mination to fight," he said, "this lawsuit is being used to attempt to break Mark and Kate, who has been his most outspoken de­fender. But those who want to keep Mark behind bars will not succeed.

"We call on all of Mark's supporters around the world to answer this blow by redoubling efforts on all fronts to win inter­national public opinion to Mark's cause," Studer said. "It is in that arena that Mark is winning. Thousands, from all walks of life, have rallied to his side and are making it possible to step up our campaign to bring his fight for justice before the United Nations.

"It is by bringing this type of pressure on the authorities in Iowa that we will advance Mark's fight for justice and keep the so-called justice system from breaking his and Kate's spirit," Studer said.

fore made a "misstatement." "On cross-examination of Mr. Curtis, the

State inquired into an incident which the State believed related to his truthfulness," Curtis' brief states. "Specifically, the State inquired into an incident in which Mr. Curtis allegedly 'misrepresented' his employment history to a prospective employer and further inferred that he had been fired for lying to this employer. In essence this is exactly the type of truth and veracity evidence which the defense was foreclosed from presenting."

Evidence of institutional bias

Curtis' history of political activism and defense of workers' rights, particularly his response to the March 1988 immigration raid at his plant, are outlined in the brief. It was this history that Curtis' attorneys assert stacked the cops and justice system against him.

"Mr. Curtis submits the jury should have been permitted to consider the evidence of institutional bias," his attorney argues. Such evidence included his beating by the cops who called him a "Mexican-lover" and "col­ored-lover." Pretrial rulings by Judge Perkins barred this information from coming before the jury. Perkins also excluded other evi­dence, including FBI surveillance of Curtis as a leader of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador and of the Socialist Workers Party.

"The Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution require the ad­mission of relevant evidence," Curtis' brief states. Denial of "the opportunity to provide information relevant to his defense by virtue of the adverse ruling by the Trial Court" entitles him to a new trial.

The attorney general dismisses Curtis' claim, saying he "overemphasized the impact of his union activities" and "was not a union official," an argument the prosecutor at­tempted to advance at the trial. But in his trial testimony Curtis explained this and pro­vided examplt:s of his union and political activities.

"The main concern I have is to get the membership, the rank and file, active in the union," Curtis testified. "It's the people who work in the plant. That's what the union is really all about, and the more active they are and the more participation they have is what makes all the difference whether it's a good union or not."

Asked whether he held an elected union position, Curtis replied, "Well, it's just like I said before, the involvement and activity of the membership is what makes the union strong or weak, and I'm an active rank-and­file member."

Beating by cops

The state's brief also claims that Curtis' beating by police had no relationship to his arrest and therefore was irrelevant at the trial. It also asserts, "There was no evidence to indicate that Curtis was a recent target of FBI surveillance" (emphasis in original).

The third issue favoring a new trial pre­sented in Curtis' brief is Judge Perkins' fail­ure to properly instruct the jury that his alibi

could be grounds for acquittal. At the trial a coworker, Brian Willey, gave undisputed tes­timony that Curtis was with him and others at Los Compadres bar and restaurant from 7:00p.m. until8:30 p.m., during the time the woman claimed she was assaulted.

"This argument is based on the victim's deposition testimony that she thought that the crime occurred at 7:30p.m.," the attorney general replies (emphasis in original). "At trial, however, the victim and others estab­lished that the crime occurred at about 8:45 p.m.," minutes prior to Curtis' arrest.

"This statement is false," John Studer, coordinator of the Mark Curtis Defense Committee, said in an interview. "At the trial the woman insisted in her testimony that she knew the time of the attack because it hap­pened five minutes after her favorite televi­sion program came on the air." Television network program logs verify the show, Video Soul, aired at 8:00 p.m.

Jury irregularities

Finitlly, "in addition to the errors which occurred in Mr. Curtis' case from the begin­ning, several irregular circumstances oc­curred which involved the jury," Curtis' brief points out. Before jury deliberations began; one juror asked to be excused because he was familiar with the Los Compadres lounge and with people who had been there and said he "could not be fair to either side." The prose­cutor supported his removal from the jury, asserting that he had "violated" his oath as a juror. The judge agreed and excused the man.

In another incident a juror was seen during a break in the trial with the family of the woman Curtis had been charged with assault­ing. Judge Perkins, however, refused to con-duct an investigation. .

"It is incomprehensible how the Trial Court justified the dismissal of Juror Garcia based solely upon his 'acquaintance' with peripheral locations mentioned during testi­mony," Curtis' brief says, "as contrasted with the cavalier attitude with respect to the pos­sible contact between a juror and the faniily of the alleged victim."

Another juror submitted an affidavit fol­lowing the trial stating that she remained convinced of Curtis' innocence and had not known that if she stuck to her views, the judge would have been forced to declare a mistrial.

The attorney general dismissed these ir­regularities and argued that the state pre­sented "an especially strong case" to warrant the guilty verdict.

About 5 percent of all cases appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court are accepted by the court for review, Assistant Attorney General Ryan said in an interview. Supreme Court clerks thought the number was closer to 10 percent. "Curtis has a very strong case that shows his rights under the U.S. Constitution and Iowa law have been violated," said Stu­der. "It merits review by the court and a finding that overturns his conviction. We are ready to take Mark's fight to federal court, if the Supreme Court turns down his appeal. We aim to deepen the international defense effort on his behalf until justice is finally won and Mark is free."

Curtis defense effort wins new backing for fight against cop, court frame-up Mandela visit spurs interest in case BY ANNA SCHELL

NEW YORK - During Nelson Man­dela's visit here, 164 people signed up to support Mark Curtis' fight for justice.

On June 20 hundreds of thousands turned out to honor Mandela at a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan. Curtis supporters had a large information table there. Signs at the table read "Release all political prisoners" and "Free Mark Curtis."

Supporters also attended a rally in Harlem for Mandela. Hundreds there were interested in finding out more about Curtis, and 34 signed up to support him. "Look, you don't have to convince me that this can happen in the USA. We have our own form of apartheid here," one new endorser said.

A flier announcing the showing of The Frame-Up of Mark Curtis, a video documen­tary by Hollywood director Nick Castle, was distributed from the table. A total of $141 was contributed to Curtis' defense campaign.

Militant/Samad Supporters of Mark Curtis defense at literature table in downtown Manhattan during Nelson Mandela's ticker-tape parade.

People coming to the parade to see Mandela stopped by the Curtis table and asked, "Who is Mark Curtis?'' Supporters of the Mark Curtis Defense Committee encour­aged people to read the literature about Curtis' frame-up, his beating by Des Moines police, and about his fight to remain politi­cally active in prison.

Denmark tour wins support in unionist's fight for justice

Several people commented that the cop beating of Curtis reminded them of the police in apartheid South Africa. A transit worker asked for several copies of defense commit­tee literature so he could pass them along to other members of his union local.

Peltier supporters

Two supporters of Leonard Peltier, a Na­tive American frame-up victim, endorsed the Curtis defense effort. They participated in the welcome for Mandela with a sign about Peltier's case.

As Nelson and Winnie Mandela passed by, those gathered at the table left hoping to get a closer look at Mandela. People came back to the table afterward. "Keep up the good work," said one woman who made a fmancial contribution to the committee. A new endorser took literature and vowed to contact Amnesty International about Curtis' defense campaign.

BY DENNY FITZPATRICK COPENHAGEN, Denmark- Kate

Kaku fmished a successful week here June 22, winning important new support for Mark Curtis' fight for justice. She is a leader of the Mark Curtis Defense Committee and is Curtis' wife.

Kaku participated in a Conference on Hu­man Development sponsored by non-gov­ernmental organizations in Denmark and other countries. The meeting, which focused on human rights, ran parallel to the Confer­ence on Security and Cooperation in Europe, a meeting of representatives from the gov­ernments of 35 countries.

The CSCE is a product of the Helsinki "process," an agreement reached in 1975 to foster economic and technological coopera­tion between East and West Europe, to in­crease contact between citizens of EaSt and West, and to foster recognition of human rights.

On June 18 Kaku spoke at a news confer-

Detroit rally hears of harassment suit BY ROBBIE SINCLAIR-SMITH

DETROIT- On June 23 a rally in de­fense of Mark Curtis was held at the First Unitarian Church here. Curtis, a unionist and political activist, is currently serving a 25-year sentence in an Iowa state prison.

John Studer, coordinator of the Mark Cur­tis Defense Committee from Des Moines, Iowa, was the featured speaker. The victim­ization of Mark Curtis by Des Moines cops took place in the context of a drive by em­ployers throughout the meat-packing indus­try to weaken unions, lower wages and job-safety standards, and speed up produc­tion in order to maximize profits, Studer said.

Although convicted on trumped-up charges of rape and burglary, "Mark's real 'crime' was defending his Mexican and Salvadoran coworkers," Studer said. Curtis worked at the Swift meat-packing company in Des Moines. By imprisoning him, the bosses and police hoped to isolate and drive Curtis out of politics, but this has not hap­pened, the defense committee coordinator explained.

Despite limitations imposed by prison, Curtis continues to discuss politics and in­troduce fellow ·inmates to the Militant, Per­spectiva Mundial, and Pathfmder books and pamphlets, Studer said.

He pointed to the 8,000 worldwide endors­ers won to Curtis' fight and described the successful seven-country European speaking

How to write Mark Curtis fl:JJ Address letters to Mark Curtis #805338, Box 316 JBC Dorm, Fort Mad­ison, lovva 52627. Sender's full name and address must be in upper left of envelope. Sign name in full at end of letter. Greeting cards and photos less than 81.--2 x 11 inches are permitted.

tour of Kate Kaku, a leader of the defense committee and Curtis' wife. He reported that progress has been made in efforts to bring the unionist's case before the United Nations. "Mark's case,'' Studer said, "is seen more and more around the world as a major polit­ical case. This kind of pressure is essential to win Mark's vindication."

The latest challenge to Curtis' fight for justice is a lawsuit against him by Keith and Denise Morris, the parents of the woman he was accused of assaulting. The. trial in the suit, which is aimed at getting substantial fmancial damages from Curtis, is set to begin July 9. This is a serious threat to both Curtis and his wife, Studer said. It is an attempt to put "permanent, life-long pressure on Mark and Kate to try to get them out of politics" and to drop their fight.

Studer concluded by calling on supporters to answer this threat by stepping up their activity and fund-raising for Curtis' defense campaign.

Frame-ups happen more often than people realize, Nathan Head of the United Auto Workers Civil Rights Department told the rally. The unionist urged everyone to con­tinue to spread the truth about Curtis and other frame-up victims. ·

Kgati Sathekge, a representative of the African National Congress' Youth Section, stressed the need for continued international solidarity with Curtis. He pointed out that many South Africans are all too familiar with the use of frame-up tactics to silence fighters. "Mark Curtis' fight is our fight," the activist concluded, "and we fully support him."

Other speakers included Sally Bier, pres­ident of UA W Local 2500; Lea Sherman, a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union; and Linda Little, a member of the United Steelworkers of America in Toronto. Almost $1,000 was contributed or pledged to the defense effort in a collection at the rally. Fifty people attended the event.

ence hosted by the meeting's International Press Center. It was attended by TASS, the Soviet Union's press agency; the Danish news service; Politiken, one of the largest Danish dailies; Gunes, a daily in Turkey; and by a local Copenhagen television station that plans to air the video The Frame-Up of Mark Curtis, as well as an interview with Kaku. The video documentary was produced by Hollywood director Nick Castle. ·

Politiken featured an article about Kaku's visit and Curtis' frame-up. Interviews with her also appeared in Det Fri Aktuelt, a trade union daily with a circulation of more than 70,000; Uge Maga Sinet Spndag, a weekly Danish magazine for women; and Land o Folk, the Communist Party's daily.

Kaku also spoke at a June 21 workshop scheduled by the conference's steering com­mittee. It was called "Mark Curtis - a Human Rights Case in the United States." Forty people participated in the workshop, including a number of young people.

During her visit here Kaku also met with a number of prominent figures, including Ulla Sandbrek, a Lutheran minister and mem­ber of the European Parliament. Sandbrek is planning to organize a delegation of parlia­mentarians to go to Iowa to investigate Curtis' frame-up and visit Curtis in prison. She is a new endorser of the Mark Curtis Defense Committee.

Hardy Hansen met with Kaku. He is the national chairman of the Danish trade union for semiskilled workers. The union has more than 350,000 members and is the largest in Denmark. It has already featured a page-long article in its magazine on Curtis' case. Of the union's 350 locals, 40 have also made fman­cial contributions to the Curtis defense cam­paign. Hansen will be visiting the United States in late September and hopes to visit the offices of the Curtis Defense Committee in Des Moines, Iowa.

Kaku had discussions with Harry Holt Jochumsen, the chair of the international department of the Danish food workers'

union. He is also the chair of the packing­house section of the union. Jochumsen plans to introduce Curtis' case to the national ex­ecutive board of the food workers' union and to the union'!> national meeting of shop stew­ards.

Kaku also sought support among nongov­ernmental organizations for the campaign to bring Curtis' fight before the United Nations. S!liren Bors~. a member of the Danish delegation and a representative of the Danish Youth Council, pledged to raise the Interna­tional Youth Appeal for Justice for Mark Curtis with his organization. Uffe Geertsen, a member of the steering committee of the Danish Association for International Coop­eration, and representatives of the Soviet and Swiss delegations also met with Kaku.

Militant/Yvonne Hayes Kate Kaku, a leader of the international campaign to win justice for Mark Curtis.

DES MOINES ----_____,

Rally to Defend Mark Curtlsl • Protest lawsuit to harass and inflict ftnandal hardship on Curtis and his wife Kate Kaku. The trial in this lawsuit begins july 9.

• Support international campaign to get Curtis' fight for justice before the United Nations.

• Defend Curtis' right to be politically active in prison.

Hear: Kate Kak.u A leader of Mark Curtis Defense Committee, just returned from Denmark where she attended a conference on human rights.

Sat., July 7, 7:30 p.m.

Park Inn, t 050 6th Ave., top floor Donation $5

Sponsor: Mark Curtis Defense Committee

July 6,1990 The Militant 5

Atlanta Eastern strikers beat frame-up attempt Some 8,500 International Asso­

ciation of Machinists (lAM) mem­bers struck Eastern Airlines March 4, 1989, in an effort to

world. Readers - especially Eastern strikers - are encour­aged to send news of strike soli­darity activities to this column.

When the trial opened, Judge John Carbo announced that those attending the trial would not be al­lowed to wear anything that com­municated any political ideas having a bearing on the case. Strike sup­porters had to remove their "No Lorenzo" buttons and stickers. A.W. Jackson, a striker who came to show support, said, "That judge just took away my right of free speech!"

current job.

The simple assault charge was based solely on Lambert's asser­tions. During his testimony, Lambert claimed he was surrounded by six strikers near the baggage claim area. Hundreds of passengers were in the area at the time. He said he thought he was going to get hit - not that anyone hit him, or even tried to hit

completed, the simple assault charge was dropped and the strik­ers were allowed to enter a plea of no contest to the charge of using fighting words. They received sus­pended fines of $100 each. The court acknowledged that using the word "scab" was not obscene and abusive.

SUPPORT EASTERN STRIKERS! At the trial, the defendants ex­

plained that John Lambert, regional security manager for Eastern Air­lines, tried to provoke Taylor. While in the Atlanta airport on September 16, Lambert challenged Taylor to try to hit him, saying Taylor did not have the picket line to protect him.

him. '

Lambert testified that, in his opin­ion, the word "scab" was a provo­cation. He stated that the strikers who surrounded him kept shouting "scab."

While all three strikers acknowl­edged the outcome of the trial was a victory, the three were bitter that they had been dragged into court and forced to spend precious time there.

block the company's drive to break the union and impose mas­sive concessions on workers.

As of the Mililant's closing news date, Wednesday, June 27, the strike was in its 48lst day.

The Eastern workers' r.ght has won broad support from working people in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, Canada, Bermuda, Sweden, New Zealand, France, and elsewhere in the

Three members of the Machinists union on strike against Eastern in Atlanta - Bobby Taylor, general chairman of lAM District 100, and George Cox, Jr. and Lawrence Roundtree of Local 1690- beat back frame-up charges in court on June 5.

Taylor, Cox, and Roundtree had been charged with "using fighting words" and with simple assault on Sept. 16, 1989.

Failing to provoke Taylor, Lam­bert turned on Cox, taunting him with quotes from his personnel file. Cox had been fired two times by Eastern. Each time he won his job back with the union's help. Lambert threatened to get Cox fired from his

Before coming to work for East­em, Lambert was with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and was a military police officer before that.

The Machinists' attorney ex­plained Lambert's goal was to col­lect indictments that could serve as the basis for a sweeping injunction against Eastern pickets in Atlanta.

When all of the testimony was

When Taylor, Cox, and Round­tree went into court they decided not to pursue the option of a jury trial, hoping to win a not guilty verdict on the fighting words charge. As Roundtree put it, "Under this sys­tem, the courts work in the interest of the people with money. They're a stacked deck.~·

Miesa Patterson and Liz Ziers from Atlanta contributed to this column.

N. Zealand clothes workers fight plant shutdown BY MALCOLM STUART

GREYMOUTH, New Zealand - It was the moment every worker dreads. All the workers were gathered into the office. A company official in a suit and tie took a prepared statement out of his briefcase and proceeded to announce that the factory was closing - immediately.

That was the scene in a clothing factory of 83 workers here on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand on April6. The company, Lane Walker Rudkin, is a big clothing manufacturer based in Christchurch and owned by one of the country's largest companies, Brierly Investments, a notorious job-slasher.

"You'll be finished as of three o'clock but you might as well go now," the workers were told. "Pick up your pay next Wednesday." The shutdown happened so quickly that a group of longtime workers at the plant who happened to be away at a funeral came back to find the factory closed.

'We'd fold up and go like lambs' However, it was not going to be that easy

for the company. ''They thought we'd fold up and go like lambs," said Judy Tainui, a picket leader and member of the Clothing Workers Union. "But we didn't."

Rather than go meekly, the workers de­cided to stay in the plant until the union

secretary drove over the mountain range from Christchurch (a three and a half hour drive). They remained even though the bosses proceeded to board up the factory in preparation for the shutdown.

Word of the closure spread fast around the small town, and support for the workers began to grow quickly. A team of softball players bought them fish and chips. A worker donated a caravan ( house trailer).

Workers left the plant after staying a day and began picketing the plant. Picket signs were painted. And for the next six weeks the workers organized a 24-hour-a-day, seven­days-a-week rotating picket involving 80 of the 83 workers.

The local police refused to evict the work­ersortocrossthepicketline.Collectionswere taken up at other work sites to pay for food. Two petitions were launched to urge the com­pany not to close the plant. Nearly half the town signed up. A march of a thousand was led through the main street by a kilted bag­piper demanding that the plant remain open.

''There was not talk of money the day of the closure," said Tainui. "We were just told to go." The amount of severance pay is a big iss'ue in places like Greymouth. Wages are low, and full-time jobs are not easy to find, especially for women.

'I support the boycott of Greyhound'

"Everyone's been hit so many times here with r~dundancies [layoffs]," explained Tainui. Union officials estimate that the clo­sure will take the equivalent of US$700,000 a year out of the town's economy in wages. This will lead to further redundancies, ex­plained one union official.

BY NANCY BROWN WASHINGTON, D.C.- Nearly 1,000

Greyhound strikers and their supporters marched from the Greyhound bus terminal to the Amtrak station here, on June 19. The march and rally were sponsored by the Rain­bow Coalition and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), which has been on strike against Greyhound since March 2.

Strikers and their supporters came in vans and buses from cities throughout the eastern United States including Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and Roanoke, Virginia. They were joined in Washington by contingents of Teamsters, teachers, city transit workers, railroad work­ers, communications workers, and Machin­ists who are on strike against Eastern Airlines.

The march was led by Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow Coalition and Rosa Parks. Parks is well )mown for her refusal to move to the back of a segregated city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. Her action sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, a major battle in the civil rights movement.

Parks traveled to Washington from Detroit, where she now lives. "As long as Greyhound can operate, it will keep many people from earning a decent living," she told the crowd. "I am firmly in support of the boycott of Greyhound as long as necessary."

Strikers report ridership is down and Grey­hound posted losses of $55.8 million in the ftrst quarter of this year. On June 4 company chairman Fred Currey opened bankruptcy proceedings for the bus line.

ATU International President James La­Salla pledged that the strike and boycott would continue. "Let this day bring a mes­sage that the strike is not over and will not be over until all our members are back at work."

BY MARK FRIEDMAN DETROIT- Organized by the Metro

Detroit AFL-CIO, more than 300 unionists rallied June 14 to support striking Greyhound drivers. There are about 100 strikers here, members of ATU Local 1303. Nearly fifty union locals participated in making the rally

6 ··The Militant ·· ·July 6, 1990

and dinner a success- raising $9,000 for the strike fund.

Detroit City Council President Maryann Mahaffey told the crowd outside the Grey­hound terminal, "We are here to protest union busting." She read from a resolution passed May 2 by the Detroit City CouAcil that backed the strikers and encouraged citizens to boycott the bus company until a new contract is negotiated in good faith.

Teamsters Union leader Mark Gaffney ad­dressed the rally, saying that the solidarity with the ATU "reminds me of the Eastern strikers - and we are going to win that one and this one."

"We're in a struggle to protect and preserve the soul of the trade union movement in this country. We're going to take up the fight against the Lorenzos and Curreys," said 48-year member of the ATU Bill Marshall to cheers from the crowd. Frank Lorenzo was

head of Eastern Airlines until his removal from the post in April.

"Currey spends $60 million on security and could have settled the whole three-year contract with that money," said Marshall. ''That lets us know he's out to break the union." Marshall reported over 60 cases of violence by scabs against pickets.

Drivers pointed out that they have suffered a 25 percent pay cut since 1983 under the Currey regime; adjusted for inflation, this represents a 43 percent reduction in purchas­ing power.

Eastern striker and member of the Inter­national Association of Machinists, Dave Elster addressed the unionists. "On the 477th day of the strike 100 percent of the Machin­ists in this area are union and have not crossed the line," he said "Currey is right up there with Lorenzo- Lorenzo knows we are tough and Currey is learning fast also."

After fruitless efforts to keep the factory open, Tainui and Diane Phelan, another union member, reached out for support from there fellow workers and union members at Lane Walker Rudkin's Christchurch facto­ries. The workers there decided to implement a ban on overtime to aid their fellow workers from Greymouth and to win a severance-pay plan for all the company's 2,000 employees. It was the first time the more than seven different unions covering the company's op­erations had ever joiried together in a fight.

The company's original offer of six weeks' pay for the first year of service and two weeks' pay for the every year after that would have given a worker with two years service a miserly $2,000 (US$1 ,200).

After only two days' overtime ban, the company upped its offer to eight weeks' pay for the first year of service and two weeks' pay for every year after that, an offer the workers accepted.

Yakima Valley workers strike apple grower BY ARTURO TREVINO AND MATT HERRESHOFF·

BENTON CITY, Wash.- "We were not even making the minimum wage," said Luis Cer6n. He is one of 65 farm workers on strike at Valley View Orchards in this town in the Yakima Valley. He and other workers ex­plained that they were making 90 cents a tree for thinning apples and were averaging $3.00 an hour.

Cer6n pointed to other conditions that sparked the strike. ''There were unhealthy conditions," he said, with no clean bathrooms or drinking water. "And many times the foremen would curse us."

The walkout began on June 20, said Angie Martinez Cer6n, a strike leader, when work­ers in the orchard "started yelling 'Strike!' We went around and told everyone that if you want to make a strike, we all have to stick together.

"We all went down to talk to the boss," Martinez continued. "He offered us 20 cents­more a tree. When we told him that was not

enough, he told us to get off his property if we didn't accept his offer." All but five workers walked out

The strikers called on the United Farm Workers of Washington State (UFWWS) to help lead the walkout. None of them were members of the union. But, from other strikes and struggles "the UFWWS is very well known to farm workers in the Yakima Val­ley," Cer6n said.

The union responded, sending members to help organize the picket line, and to pub­licize the strike and win support from the many thousands of farm workers in this cen­ter of agribusiness.

So far, the picket line has been very effec­tive. The grower has recruited only seven workers to scab. And the strike has begun to win solid support from other workers. Many thousands of people drive past the picket line every day, which is next to Interstate 82, the main highway in the Yakima Valley. Often, drivers honk to show support. Some have stopped to join the pickets, or donate food

and money for the strikers. ''The general manager, like all other grow­

ers struck during the past three and half years, always claims that the union picks the target for convenience and publicity, this time be­cause the farm happens to be along Interstate 82," said Tomas Villanueva, president of the UFWWS. "To date agribusiness fails to rec­ognize that it is the industry - with their low wages, mistreatment, and total disregard for the rights of workers - that provokes labor disputes."

Villanueva and other union leaders believe that these conditions may provoke more strikes on other farms in the Yakima Valley this year. Striker Martinez explained, "We are fighting for better pay and conditions, not just here but everywhere else, because there are other farms in the Yakima Valley where they treat people this way."

Arturo Trevino is the Second Vice-president , of the United Farm Workers of Washington State.

Auto workers in Sweden expose company at trial BY BIRGITT A ISACSSON

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -In the biggest labor court trial ever, some 300 union auto workers, sued by their employer Saab­Scania, packed a courtroom here for two days, testifying on their own behalf, cheering on their union's lawyer, and pointing the fmger at their accusers.

Throughout the May 30-31 hearings members of the Metal W()rkers Union, taken to court for striking "illegally," charged Saab­Scania with plant safety violations, callous disregard for employees, and providing poor work conditions. Before and after the court proceedings the unionists held marches and demonstrations and passed out flyers ex­plaining their cases to passers-by.

Auto workers at the big Saab-Scania truck plant in SOdertalje, just south of Stockholm, have fought since the end of last year for a wage increase needed to keep up with rising inflation. They have held a series of strike actions and big union meetings calling on the company to negotiate, and have sought to win solidarity from other unions.

Shortly after the proceedings began, the union members walked out on an unsched­uled break and held a rally nearby where they received solidarity greetings, flowers, and money from other unions.

The court proceedings continued after the rally. Workers booed the company lawyer and cheered as Dan Holke, the union lawyer, explained why the strikes at Saab-Scania took place. No one can accuse the workers at Saab-Scania of being notorious strikers, he argued, since there has not been a strike there since 1964.

Holke pointed out that job-related injuries are up; one-quarter of the workers were af­flicted with some kind of nerve or limb damage in 1989 due to repetitive motion and other causes; on-the-job accidents rose 25 percent between 1985 and 1989; and over­time has increased.

Several workers took the floor during the proceedings.

'Come work where I work!' Dick Sandstrom described his job painting

pieces for the chassis in a box where the temperature climbs very high. "We have to wear an overall and another plastic one on top of that. If we take a break because of the heat, the foremen tell us we're lazy." Pointing

Militant/Dag Tirsen Several hundred workers marched through downtown Stockholm on way to trial May 30. They chanted, "Contract yes! Prosecution no!"

to the company representatives he said, "Those men should come and work where I work!"

Saab-Scania worker Irja Vuohisalo, a truck driver for 16 years, described how the ache in her neck and shoulders became worse and worse and the company refused to assign her to a different job. "In the end I could no longer raise my hand," she said.

Company defender Anders Sandgren pre­sented Saab-Scania's case, which centered on an attempt to blame the union and indi-

vidual workers for the strike actions. He concluded with a threat of a wage cut, which the company could impose, he said, the next time negotiations come up.

The labor court hearings, which got a lot of media coverage, ended after two days. The Saab-Scania workers considered the pro­ceedings to be a victory for their side. The decisions will be handed down July 18.

Birgitta lsacsson works at the Scania plant in SOdertiilje and is a member of the Metal Workers Union.

Saab-Scania, one of the largest employers in the country, sued 982 of the unionists for their actions. In Sweden, where labor nego­tiations are highly centralized, the legal pos­sibilities for a local union to go out on strike are very limited. Individual workers who do can be sued, taken to the labor court, and fined.

A pretrial hearing originally slated for April25 to listen to arguments by the workers was cancelled. This meant they had to present their grievances in writing.

The union members sent messages pro­testing the cancellation and demanding big­ger facilities for the hearings. The labor court

. :.holds only 70 people although 982 were to be on trial.

Strike makes British Airways back off forced 12-hour shifts at Heathrow

'·

Of the 5,300 workers at Saab-Scania, some 47 percent are foreign-born. Messages were sent in Spanish, English, Finnish, Nor­wegian, Danish, and indigenous African lan­guages.

BY JOYCE FAIR CHILD AND JO-HAMMOND '· 111!-

LONOON- After beating back manage­ment attempts to impose new working con­ditions, 7,000 British Airways aircraft main­tenance engineering staff at Heathrow Air-

port voted June 11 to end their 18~day strike. On May~5, BA management-imposed a .~

new 12-hour shift on workers at the terminal maintenance fleet, telling them if they were not prepared to work the 12 hours starting that morning, they should go home. In re-

Demand for wage increase On May 30 several hundred workers gath­

ered outside the Saab-Scania headquarters in SOdertalje. The unionists rented three Volvo­made buses, naming them "5.50" after their demand for a 5.50 kronor (US$.90) an hour wage increase.

Golf-wear garment workers take their strike to U.S. Open BY ERIC MATHEIS

Radio and TV journalists followed the buses to the court hearings, which were moved from the labor court offices to the Kulturhuset in downtown Stockholm. The Saab-Scania workers got off the buses just short of their destination and marched the rest of the way, chanting, "Contract yes! Prosecution no!" and "We want 5.50!"

MEDINAH, lli. - Gathered outside the United States Open golf tournament here June 17, more than 70 people rallied in support of Los Angeles garment workers on strike at La Mode du Golf golf wear manu­facturer.

The spirited group was largely made up of trade unionists, including three La Mode strikers from Los Angeles - members of the

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International Ladies' Garment Workers ' Union. Other demonstrators were members of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, Hotel Employees and Res­taurant Employees union, United Farm Workers, and United Steelworkers of Amer­ica.

Some 175 members of the ILGWU have been striking La Mode for union recognition since July 17, 1989. Before the strike the company had suspended union organizers and fired, interrogated, and threatened work­ers. The La Mode strikers have solidarized with the Eastern Airlines and Greyhound bus lines strikers in Los Angeles, as well as walked the picket lines with striking hotel and restaurant and furniture workers.

The United States Golf Association, spon­sor of the U.S. Open and PGA Tour, is the largest remaining client of La Mode. In March ILGWU Local 44 asked the USGA to discontinue buying from the struck golf­wear manufacturer. The USGA continued to stock La Mode wear in its pro shops and catalogs, however.

The strikers responded by picketing the USGA's Bob Hope tournament in Palm Springs, California, in May. "If the USGA can't give us proof that they're not buying La Mode, we're going to keep following the PGA tournament," said La Mode striker Val­demar Zamora. . Here outside the golf course in Medinah,

a suburb west of Chicago, the striking gar­ment workers and supporters passed out leaf­lets and carried signs publicizing their fight. Their chants of "Don't buy La Mode!" and "Don't wear scabwear!" could be heard by the players. "We're not going to let them play their game in peace until they support work­ers rights," said one ILGWU activist.

sponse to this the unions representing the . workers called a meeting of all BA mainte­nance staff at Heathrow, where the workers voted overwhelmingly to go on strike.

Joe Fenton, secretary of the Engineering and Maintenance Trades Union side of the negotiating committee, explained that the union was opposed to the imposition of the new hours. The 12-hour shifts would cause greater stress and fatigue, making working conditions more unsafe. BA maintenance workers already work shift patterns that dis­rupt their social and family life.

Many workers fear the effects on aircraft safety standards if they are forced to work 12-hour shifts. This is especially true for terminal fleet workers who - working under tremendous pressure __:_ undertake the last-minute repairs on the aircraft before takeoff.

The change iil shift patterns would also have meant reduced holidays, which are cal­culated in hours. A worker with more than 10 years service would have found their holidays reduced from 25 to 19 days.

On June 6, at the same time as BA was attempting to attack conditions for aircraft maintenance engineers, the airline an­nounced that BA Chairman Lord King will be getting a pay increase of £84,000 (US$143,650) per year.

On June 8 management met with the main unions involved: the Transport and General Workers Union, Amalgamated Engineering Union, MSF - a union representing drafts­men, technicians, and lower management­and Electrical Engineering and Plumbing Trades Union.

After four days of discussions with the unions on the new proposal BA was forced to back down on the imposition of the new shift pattern. It was agreed that the airline can take volunteers for 12-hour shifts in the technical area. But 12-hour shifts are not to be considered in any other department for 6 months. The 12-hour working day has al­ready been introduced at Gatwick Airport.

"We considered we had a successful out­come to the dispute as we set out to remove the imposition by management of the new working conditions," Fenton pointed out. He

. attributed the success of the dispute to united action by all workers across four panels: the craft, noncraft, supervisory, and clerical sec­tions.

'· J~Jiy,.6,1990 TheMilit~t 7

andela" in Harlem condemns 'c;~ The following is the June 21 speech

given by Nelson Mandela to a crowd of 100,000 assembled at 12Sth Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, New \brk City. 'Ihmscription is by the Militant.

Chairman, distinguished guests: We are very happy to be here this evening

and it gives me immense pleasure to greet all of you on behalf of the leaders and mem­bers of the African National Congress and the Mass Democratic Movement.

It is with great joy that I speak to you this evening. My only regret is that I am not able to embrace each and every one of you.

Whilst my comrades and I were in prison we followed closely your own struggle against the injustices of racist discrimination and economic inequality. We were and are aware of the resistance of the people of Harlem and continue to be inspired by your indomitable fighting spirit.

I am able to speak to you because of the mass resistance of our people and the unceas­ing solidarity of millions throughout the world. It is you, the working people of Har­lem, that helped to make it happen. It is you, the clergy and believers, who helped to make it happen. It is you, the professionals and intellectuals, that helped to make it happen. It is you, the struggling women, who helped to make it happen.

The kinship that the ANC feels for the people of Harlem goes deeper than skin color. It is the kinship of our shared historical experience and the kinship of the solidarity of the victims of blind prejudice and hatred. To our people, Harlem symbolizes the strength and beauty in resistance, and you have taught us that out of resistance to injus­tice comes renaissance, renewal, and rebirth.

Inspired by freedom fighters

From the beginningofthiscentury, we have been inspired by great antiracist freedom fighters like W.E.B. DuBois,SojoumerTruth, Paul Robeson, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey, Fannie Lou Hamer, Adam Clayton Powell, Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, and many others. [Applause]

At the turning of this century, W.E.B. Du Bois, with great foresight, predicted that "the

· problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line." As we enter the last decade of the 20th century, it is intolerable and unacceptable that the cancer of racism is still eating away at the fabric of societies in different parts of our planet.

It remains one of the most important global issues confronting all humanity, Black and white. It is a struggle that must involve people of all walks of life. It is a struggle that must involve people of different colors, religions, and creeds.

All of us, descendants of Africa, know only too well that racism demeans the victims and dehumanizes its perpetrators. Racism, we must emphasize, pollutes the atmosphere of human relations and poisons the minds of the backward, the bigoted, and the prejudiced.

On my way from the airport through the streets of New York yesterday a slogan on the sweatshirt of a young woman moved me. It said, "Black by nature, proud by choice."

The oppressed people of South Africa-· living in a country in which institutionalized racism permeates every pore of our lives and even in death, since we have segregated cemeteries -are acutely sensitive to pain and injuries suffered by people of color. It should therefore be clear that all antiracist fighters, wherever they may be, will always find a friend and ally in our people, in our movement- the AN C.

For us the struggle against racism has assumed the proportions of a crusade. We all of uS, Black and white, should spare no effort in our struggle against all forms and mani­festations of racism wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.

The revolt of our people continues in the land of apartheid. Our struggle is the struggle to erase the color line that all too often determines who is rich and who is poor; that all too often decides who lives in luxury and lives in squalor; that all too often determines

who shall get food, clothing, and health care; and that all too often decides who will live and who will die.

We continue to live in a country enslave<! by apartheid. The vote, the land, economi wealth, and power remain a monopoly of the white minority. The only monopoly Black! have is the monopoly of ghettoes, of deprive( and suffering children, the monopoly of mil· lions of unemployed, the monopoly of urbar slums, rural starvation, low wages, and the bullets and clubs of too many trigger-happ: police. [Applause].

Threshold of change

But, my dear brothers and sisters, com rades and friends, I am here to report to yot that due to the enormous sacrifices of ou people and the solidarity and support of peo pie like you and the international communi!) apartheid is nearing its end.

We are on the threshold of momentou changes. Last month, at the initiative of th ANC, we met with President de K.lerk an his colleagues. It was not a meeting of maste and servant. It was a meeting of equals. A that meeting we reached an agreement o removing those obstacles, harboring the ere ation of a climate conducive to negotiatiom

We are confident that the agreement ca be implemented in full as a matter of urgenc~ Equally, we are confident that you will con

Mandela explains ANC support of liberation I BY GREG McCARTAN

In interviews and press conferences since his arrival in the United States, Nelson Mandela has responded to a series of chal­lenges to the African National Congress' solidarity with the Palestine Liberation Or­ganization, the Cuban revolution, Libya, and the Puerto Rican struggle against U.S. dom­ination.

Prior to Mandela's arrival in the United States, some pro-Israeli organizations threat­ened to mount protests at events the ANC leader was to address. The Miami City Com­mission decided not to vote on a resolution welcoming Mandela to the city after objec­tions by two Cuban"American commission members. Mandela is scheduled to visit Miami on June 28.

The Wall Street Journal attacked Mandela in an editorial headlined "Mr. Mandela's Friends." The editors complained Mandela "repeatedly praised Moammar Gadhafi, Fidel Castro, and Yasser Arafat."TheJournal also objected to Mandela sharing a platform with four Puerto Rican nationalists who &pent

25 years or more in prison for taking up arms against the colonial status Washington im­poses on that island.

'Supported our struggle to hilt'

"One of the mistakes which some political analysts make is to think that their enemies should be our enemies," the ANC leader said during Ted Koppel's June 21 "Town Meeting with Nelson Mandela" on ABC-TV.

"Our attitude towards any country is de­termined by the attitude of that country to our struggle. Yassir Arafat, Colonel Qaddafi, and Fidel Castro support our struggle to the hilt," the ANC leader continued. ''There is no reason whatsoever why we should have any hesitation about hailing their commit­ment to human rights as they are being de­manded in South Africa.

"Our attitude is based solely on the fact that they fully support the anti-apartheid struggle. They do not support it only in rhetoric. they are placing resources at our disposal, for us to win the struggle."

Expressing "profound disappointment"

At Harlem rally speakers compared anti-apartheid struggle to struggle in the United States.

8 The Militant July 6,1990

with Mandela's statement, Henry Siegman, the executive director of the American Jewish Congress, said on the program that the re­sponse "suggests a certain degree of amoral­ity."

Mandela recently met with Siegman and other leaders of Jewish organizations from the United States who had expressed concern over Mandela's support to the Palestinian cause.

Reiterating his statements at that meeting, the ANC leader said, "We identify with the PLO because, just like ourselves, they are fighting for the right of self-determination."

ANC policy, he said, recognizes the right oflsrael to "exist within secure borders." This does not mean "that Israel has the right to retain the territories they conquered from the Arab world -like the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank. We don' t agree with that. Those territories should be returned to the Arab people."

Pressing the question on "Nightline" the same evening,Koppel told Mandelahe would alienate "great many Cuban-Americans" and Jews.

Mandela responded, "Many Jews, mem­bers of the Jewish community [in South Af­rica], are in our struggle, and they have occu­pied very top positions. But that does not mean that the enemies of Israel are our enemies."

"Arafat," Mandela added, "is a comrade in arms, and we treat him as such."

On a TV news program with Charlayne Hunter-Gault the following day, Mandela was asked what steps are needed in the Middle East "to advance that peace process."

"The only solution of the problem of the Middle East," he said, "is one of peace, for the opponents to sit. down and hammer out their differences and to try to effect a nego­tiated settlement. It is the only solution that is open to the PLO and the Israeli govern­ment, and I would urge them to do that."

In a June 22 speech to the United Nations Special Committee on Apartheid, Mandela extended the ANC's "warm greetings to all others who fight for their liberation and human rights, including the peoples of Pal­estine and the Western Sahara."

The UN meeting was attended by most of the General Assembly delegates, although the assembly was not in session. Mandela told the UN representatives, "We commend their struggles to you, convinced that we are all moved by the fact that freedom is indi­visible, convinced that the denial of the rights of one diminish the freedom of the other."

'Cuba first to support us'

Mandela told Hunter-Gault that after the ANC was banned in South Africa in 1960,

leaders of the organization sought assistance from several countries. "They came to th• United States of America and asked for help,' he said. "They did not get that help.

"They went to Cuba, and Cuba on the spo blessed support and actually gave it lonl before the West would do anything to assis us."

During the June 22 MacNeil/Lehrer tele· vision news program, the ANC leader ex· plained, "Why would we now listen to the Western World, when they say we should have nothing to do with Cuba? It's just un­reasonable ... . Here is the country that Wa!

the first to assist us when the West, whid had formidable resources, was actually sup· porting the government.

"Now you expect us to change our whole approach and to start condemning Cuba fo what is supposed to be happening inside the country. No man of principle is going to. dc that."

The furor from circles opposed to the Cuban revolution stem from Mandela's rec ognition of Cuba's role in beating back the invasion of Angola by the apartheid regime

In March Mandela attended the indepen dence celebration of Namibia -a countr; long occupied by South Africa. He spoke then about the 1988 defeat of the Soutl African invasion of Angola. He said tha without the victory won by Angolan, Cuban and the Namibian troops of the South Wes African People's Organization, "the Soutl African army would still have been in Angol; and it would have been difficult to obtain the liberation of Namibia."

In a speech in Angola in May, he said tha in one thing Cuba "stands head and shoulder above most of the countries in the world: i is its love of human rights and freedom Inspired by those basic needs, it ralliec around Angola when she was attacked."

Condemns U.S. bombing of Libya

During a visit to Libya in May, Mandel toured the ruins of Libyan head of stat• Muammar el-Qaddafi's former residence The building, and other sites in the count:r) were bombed by the United States Air Fore• in April 1986. A daughter of Qaddafi's wa killed in the bombing.

Condemning the raid, Mandela tol• Qaddafi, "Whatever the differences thatexi~ between nations, between human beings, i is unacceptable for anyone to try an attemr on an opponent and his family."

He thanked the Libyan official for militar: training provided to ANC fighters.

The four Puerto Rican nationalist fighter - Lolita Lebron, Oscar Collazo, Rafae Cancel Miranda, and IrVing Flores - were

ncer of racism' · ue to support us in this fight Let me say, with all sincerity, that we do dOubt the integrity of President de Klerk

I Ins colleagues. Equally, we welcome the tes to repeal certain racist legislation and state of emergency in the greater part of ·country. Yet until the agreement has been >lemented in full and there is profound ! irreversible change international pres­~ must be intensified and sanctions main­at. Keep the pressure on apartheid! aats of "Keep the pressure on!"] • i8 regrettable that in South Africa there iD. a minority of a minority violently and emently opposed to a negotiated resolu-1 10f the conflict. Too many of them are ,iiy amied. Too many of them are to be HI in the police force. Too many of them mobilized and organized into paramilit­fmnations. They have the capacity, and ~s the will, to commit unspeakable cities.

bing to fear from democracy ut they will not deflect us from our

. 1m path. For our part, we understand and ;cnsitive to the fears about the future of ) of our white compatriots. The ANC is illundly committed and determined to do R can to demonstrate that they have tiil.g to fear from a nonracial, nonsexist cx:racy. That indeed, only in a nonracial,

hts, Cuba Jduced to a rally at which Mandela spoke larlem June 21. >ennis Rivera, president of the Hospital Health Care Employees union in New

k, said, to a huge applause, he was "proud honored to present to you our national

Jes." lle Puerto Rican independence fighters been called "assassins" by New York

yor David Dinkins the week before. Fol­ting a public outcry, Dinkins retreated, ·ing he could "identify with and appreciate ir yearning for economic justice and po­;al freedom." \sked by a reporter about the dispute ut the Puerto Rican nationalists, Mandela 1:. "We support the cause of anyone who ighting for self-determination, and our ude is the same, no matter who it is. I Jld be honored to sit on the same platform 1 the four comrades whom you refer to."

nonsexist. united, and democratic South Af­rica will they be freed from the prison that is the apartheid system.

The ANC and the Mass Democratic Movement represent an unequaled diversity of cultures, languages, religion, tradition, and class. I am happy to report to you that there are increasing numbers of whites who not only realize that apartheid is unjust and a crime, but who are ready to be in the same trenches as their fellow Black sisters and brothers. [Applause].

As the struggle intensifies, the social base of the present government will be reduced, and more and more whites will join the ANC as equals, with equal duties, obligations, and responsibilities.

Unity in action We are on the verge of victory. But the last

mile of the freedom road could prove to be the most difficult and the most intractable. Thus our struggle cries out for organization, discipline, and unity. Struggle that does not strengthen organization can lead to a blind alley. Struggle without discipline can lead to anarchy. Struggle without unity enables the other side to pick us off one by one. [Ap­plause].

We are, therefore, deeply involved in try­ing to bring about the unity in action of all those opposed to apartheid. Any individual, any group, any organization that seeks gen­uine unity in action will fmd a ready partner in theANC.

We are fighting for a democratic South Africa. This means first and foremost, one person, one vote on a nonracial voters' roll. [Applause]. On this there can be no compro­mise.

For us, political power should be the basis for the economic empowerment of people. It is outrageous that in the richest country on our continent, with its vast economic re­sources, that millions should be deprived of the basic necessities of life. The gap between the haves and the have-nots, Black and white, is totally unacceptable. Any new democratic state must address this historic injustice as a matter of urgency. It also means that we are irrevocably committed to realizing a society in which the fruits of our people's labor shall be distributed equitably. That the striking imbalance between the wealth of the minor­ity and the poverty of the majority have to be addressed.

To bring an end to this old unjust, inequi­table social order, and bring into being a new one characterized by the notions of justice

UN African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela addresses United Nations June 22

and equity, requires that we address the ques­tions of the enormous economic power wielded by and concentrated in the hands of a minority of a minority.

Intensify the struggle Brothers and sisters, comrades and friends,

victory is in sight. [Applause]. The light at the end of the tunnel is now beckoning. But we are not yet there. To reach the end of the tunnel requires that we intensify the struggle on all fronts. It requires that we make the

. necessary sacrifices. It requires that we re­main unrelenting in pursuit of our goals.

The masses of the people of our country are ready for the final battle. Let me assure you they will not flinch from that last battle. It is their heroism, courage, and unquench­able fighting spirit which has earned them the respect and admiration of the interna­tional community. Our people symbolize the spirit of resistance and no surrender.

Let me also assure you that the ANC will never be found wanting. Let me assure you that the ANC will never rest until we have accomplished our goals. [Applause]. This is a pledge that I make on behalf of all the freedom fighters in the ANC.

Brothers and sisters, comrades and

friends, I am here to claim you because in the 27 years of my imprisonment, indeed, throughout the life of the ANC, you have claimed our struggle. There is an umbilical cord that ties us together. So let us act in unity. [Applause] Let us double and redou­ble our efforts to bring to a speedy end this shameful blot on humanity, this crime against humanity.

At the Rivonia trial, at which I was sen­tenced to life imprisonment, I said from the dock, "During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination and we fight against Black domination. I have cherished an ideal for a democratic society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I am prepared to live for and achieve. But if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." [Applause].

To you, the wonderful citizens of New York:, I declare that I stand by every word of my statement from the dock.

Death to racism! Glory to the sister and brotherhood of

peoples throughout the world. Thank you very much. [Applause and

chants]

Continue the sanctions,' urges ANC leader ltinued from front page ;, flags, and as streamers attached to small c;, "Sanctions until democracy" was a ular T-shirt, along with many that in­led the likeness of Mandela. he rally was preceded by a "Walk for :dom," organized by area students to raise Is for the ANC. While most rally partici­tscarneasaresultofmediapublicity,some mized contingents dotted the crowd. be stateAFL-CIO went on record in favor 1e action. Local 20 1 of the International on of Electronic Workers at the General :tric plant in Lynn, Massachusetts, and the n chapter of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People

ACP) filled a bus from Boston's North re. outh and community leaders prepared a uth Forum" at Madison Park: High School 1e Roxbury community of Boston that tdela addressed prior to the rally. The :ram likened the struggle against apart• to those for Black equality and economic ce in the United States. 'hen asked what he hoped to hear from dela, one student said, "More ways to . for freedom, because Black people have :red so much." 15-year-old woman said she hoped Man­would "tell us to keep on going to free ~lves." Ve have come to tell you of our admira­and respect for you," Mandela told the

1,500 young people and community activists packed into the school hall. "We want to assure you that the ANC has been unbanned because of your support."

The giant welcome for Mandela in the United States and the outpouring of support for maintaining sanctions have helped push back South African President F. W. de Klerk: 's initial success in wooing governments to relax the punitive measures.

De Klerk was received in May by heads of state during a tour of Europe. He cam­paigned for the 12 countries of the European Community (EC) to ease their sanctions.

The Citizen, a big-business daily in South Africa, said Mandela's "triumphant tour of the United States has undone much of the success Mr. de Klerk: achieved on his own tour abroad."

Meeting in Dublin, Ireland, June 25-26, the EC decided to continue sanctions, citing the need for "further clear evidence" that apartheid will be ended.

During the New York tour stop a rally of 100,000 in Harlem heard speakers compare the struggle against apartheid to the struggle in the United Sates for decent housing, edu­cation, health care, and jobs. The previous day 750,000 had welcomed Mandela in a series of parades and rallies.

Dhorubaal-Mujahid bin Wahad, a political activist imprisoned for 19 years, told Mandela at the Harlem event, "Our people who stand up for freedom have been railroaded to jail."

Many participants in the event collected signatures calling on the New York: City government to adopt a stiff sanctions bill. One said the visit, "has helped open a lot of eyes about what apartheid is. We need to step up the publicity and spread the word more."

Following the rally, Mandela addressed 55,000 stomping, cheering, and ANC flag­waving supporters at Yankee Stadium. Hew as met with prolonged chants of "Keep the pres­sure on!"

A June 22 session of the United Nations Special Committee on Apartheid was held to hear an address by Mandela.

Representing countries from Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Car­ibbean, and others from around the globe, delegates rose to salute the freedom struggle and pledge continued UN backing of the international isolation of South Africa.

The delegate representing countries in Af­rica explained that "the whole of the African continent is anxiously awaiting" the destruc­tion of apartheid. "This will lead to a rejuve­nated Africa," he said. The new, democratic country will be "a genuine model of state­hood for all of Africa."

"The peoples of Asia, the most populous region of the earth, join in celebrating the release of Nelson Mandela," Nasim Ahmed from Pakistan told the assembly.

When Mandela rose to speak he was given a three-minuteovationfrom the UN delegates.

"It will forever remain an indelible blight

on human history that the apartheid crime ever occurred," Mandela told the assembly. "It will forever remain an accusation and a challenge to all men and women of conscience that it took as long as it has before all of us stood up to say: 'Enough is enough!"'

Explaining the continued repression, pov­erty, and denial of rights of Blacks in South Africa, Mandela scored those who condemn the ANC for waging an armed struggle against the regime. ·

Apartheid "still lives on," he said, "pro­voking strange and monstrous debates about the means that its victims are obliged to use to rid themselves of this intolerable scourge, eliciting arguments from those who choose not to act, that to do nothing must be accepted as the very essence of civilized opposition to tyranny."

The ANC leader also met with business executives from some of the largest U.S. corporations, addressed a gathering of reli­gious leaders at Riverside Church, spoke with anti-apartheid activists, and attended several fund-raising events.

The fight for a nonracial, democratic South Africa, Mandela said at the Riverside Church gathering, includes the ANC "unequivocally opposing white racism, and Black racism. We reject sexism and have pledged ourselves to afiirm and promote the equality of women in the new South Africa."

Taking the cause of the struggling people of South Africa directly to President George

Continued on Page 12

July 6,1990 The Militant 9

Nicaragua contras to get settlement areas, police and government posts BY SETH GALINSKY

MANAGUA, Nicaragua- An agree­ment signed by leaders of the contra army and the Nicaraguan government has estab­lished terms for demobilization of the mer­cenaries, including the integration of some into the national police force.

The agreement, signed May 30, grants two areas to the contras for "settlement"; one in southeastern Nicaragua near the border with Costa Rica and another in the north-central part of the country not far from Honduras. Together these "development zones" are roughly equal in size to the state of Massa­chusetts.

A police force of 300, made up of contras, is being fonned for the zones. Under the terms of the· accord, these police will form part of the Ministry of Governance, formerly the Ministry of the Interior, to which the national police and customs workers belong.

The conb]lS will also be granted positions in the municipal governments in the zones and high-level posts in several government ministries, including health, labor, and agri­culture.

pleted without delay. "It is time for the contras to carry out their

promises so that the government of President Chamorro can govern in peace and offer the security and guarantees that all the citizenry and the country demands," the paper con­cluded.

The Nicaraguan army continues to disarm peasant cooperatives, farm workers, and mi­litias.

In recent days some 500 rifles belonging to cooperatives in Matagalpa were destroyed by the army in the presence ofONUCAand CIA V representatives.

On June 15 President Violeta Chamorro announced plans for the reduction of the army to 41 ,000 soldiers. At one time num­bering over 80,000 troops, the army dropped to 55,000 after the electoral victory of Cham­orro in February, in large part due to deser­tions by draftees. Remaining draftees will be released from service by December, Cham­orro stated.

The Nicaraguan president emphasized that the main task of the army at this time is to continue disarming the civilian popula­tion. She announced the formation of a joint

Militant/Seth Galinsky Contras near town of Pradera in north-central Nicaragua, May 1990. Pact grants contras two settlement areas roughly the size of Massachusetts.

commission made up of army officials and former commanders of the contras to oversee a national plan for the turning in of weapons.

Minister of Governance Carlos Hurtado stated that out of 8,000 police in February, the force has dropped to less than 5,000. He said

the resignations were a product in some cases of "ideological" differences resulting from the February 25 victory of Chamorro and in others of low salaries. The minister said he would raise wages and hire more cops in the near future.

1n· exchange for these concessions, the mercenary forces agreed to continue disarm­ing. One contra commander told Agence France Presse that the government granted more than the .contras themselves had asked for.

U.S., Argentina hold military maneuvers

Contra force of 17,000 While earlier reports had placed the

total number of contras at a maximum of 15,000; the United Nations Observers Group for Central America (ONUCA) and the International Support and Verification Commission (CIAV) claim that as of June 17, 15,000 had turned in their weapons out of a revised figure of 17 ,000 contras. ONUCA and CIAV are in charge of mon­itoring the demobilization.

According to the Sandinista National Lib­eration Front daily Barricada, several hun­dred contras have refused to tum in their weapons.

Santiago Murray, CIAV coordinator, said the Barrie ada figures are exaggerated. "Only about 20 contras in the north have refused," he asserted.

Many people suspect the contras have stored weapons in the two areas they will control.

Asked if these charges are true, Murray shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's just speculation." No efforts are being made by CIA V, ONUCA, or the government to inves­tigate. ONUCAspokesperson Angelica Hunt said, "After all, we can't be running around everywhere with metal detectors to check out rumors."

Many residents of the zones are wor­ried, given the ·widespread terror un­leashed by the contras during the war. They fear the contras - backed by their police force in the zones - will break up collective farms, carry out banditry, form death squads, and harass or assassinate anyone who disagrees with them.

'Logical and necessary' Referring to the concessions made by the

government, Ba"icada in a June 6 editorial stated, "The demands for guarantees by con­tras who are disarming, are not only logical, but understandable and necessary for their security." However, the paper continued, the creation of the rural police made up of con­tras "is not justified."

As long as the mercenaries maintain part of their forces intact, the paper notes, "the demobilization will not be anything but a game of musical chairs."

In an editorial a few days later Barricada added that " leaving aside the outrages and abuses" represented by the concessions, the most important thing now is to insure that the demobilization of the contras be com-

: ~0 . TIJe.Militant July6, 1990

BY LUIS MADRID NEW YORK- "The mid-May visit by

Gen. Maxwell Thurman, head of the U.S. Southern Command, and the participation of Green Beret units in joint maneuvers with the Argentine military is onh sign of the U .S. rulers' concern about the accelerating social crisis in Argentina," Marcelo Zugadi said in a recent interview here.

"The U.S. government has increased its military activity in other parts of Latin Amer­ica too," he noted.

Zugadi is a member of the executive com­mittee of the Movement of the Downtrodden and of the United Left (IU), a coalition of several Argentine political organizations.

Last September U.S. Defense Secretary Richard Cheney said the "war against drugs" is "a high-priority national security mission." Since then, U.S. military activity in Latin America has increased, Zugadi pointed out. Last December's invasion of Panama, an attempt in January to blockade Colombia's coasts with a squadron of naval vessels car­rying 8,000 sailors, and the more recent paramilitary operations and plans for con­structing a military base in Peru are examples of Washington's stepped-up military pres­ence under the guise of fighting drugs.

In a May 29 press conference in Buenos Aires, Gen. Martin Bonnet, the Argentine army's chief of staff, denied the joint maneu­vers were related to a war against drugs. But the only explanation he offered was that the army's duty is "to safeguard those high na­tional interests established by the govern­ment."

Zugadi, however, placed the maneuvers within the context of sharpening social prob­lems. "If you want to know the meaning of the word 'crisis,' you must go to Argentina," he said. "Argentina's foreign debt serves as imperialism's master key to impose its eco­nomic as well as political policies" on work­ing people.

$60 billion debt

Zugadi described the scope of Argentina's debt to big banks in New York, London, and other fmancial centers. "When Raul Alfons in assumed power at the end of 1983, after almost seven years of military dictatorship, the debt totaled $46 billion. In the first four years of his administration Argentina paid $14 billion to service it; yet last year the debt had again reached more than $60 billion." Argentina is the third largest debtor among the semicolonial countries. Only Brazil and Mexico have higher debts.

"The extraordinary drain of the country's wealth was carried out according to a plan imposed by the International Monetary Fund," Zugadi noted. The plan also resulted in "a sharp drop in government employees' wages and a cut. in ,the pubJic serv;~;es and health-care systems. There were some fir­ings, and workers' wages fell by 50 percent."

The Argentine activist pointed to the alarming "30,000 children who die every year due to malnutrition in a country that this year alone will export $S billion in grain and meat products." Argentina has a population of 30 million and an estimated 20 percent unemployment level.

"The best candidate they had to 'solve' the crisis WaJi Alfonsfn, a clear defender of cap­italism, yet a man with a progressive and democratic demeanor," said Zugadi. "But he was liquidated; they killed him politically in three years. Right after the elections he en­joyed the majority's approval but was forced out of office five months before his term was up." During Alfonsin's administration 13 general strikes were held, Zugadi noted.

In 1989, in the middle of an economic disaster, "the most reactionary sector of the Peronists won the elections."

The Justicialist Party - called "Peronist" after its founder Juan Domingo Peron, who served as the country's president from 1946 to 1955 and again in the 1970s - is the party of current president Carlos Saw Menem.

Menem began by "forming a cabinet built around Bunge y Borne, one of the world's biggest food trading monopolies. The presi­dent of the multinational company's subsid­iary in Argentina became minister of the economy," Zugadi said. "So big capital began running the government directly through its executives."

Belt-tightening measures

When Menem took office last July, he launched a severe belt-tightening program. "But it crumbled by September. And again inflation shot up. Then, a new economic plan, which was simply copied from the previous one, only more brutal, was put forward. By December there was relative stability," Zugadi said, "but then another inflationary peak." In 1989, according to the Argentine Institute for National Statistics, the cost of living rose 12,000 percent.

"If the Radical Civic Union- Alfonsin 's party - was destroyed as a political alterna­tive in five years," Zugadi commented, "the Peronist party has been discredited in five months."

Measures announced last March by An­tonio Erman Gonzalez, the regime's third minister of the economy, as part of the. third emergency economic plan, included early retirement for government workers, closing the national lllOrtgage bank, .. and delaying government payments to suppliers.

In mid-April "the government issued a call for the 'Marcha del Sf,' the yes marcb: yes to the economic program, yes to privatiza­tions, yes to the payment of the foreign debt. The higher echelons of the bourgeoisie, the oligarchy, and the entire state apparatus sup­ported it. In addition, the government used food distributions and other gimmicks," he said, "to manipulate people to support the action. Some 60,000 gathered at the Plaza de Mayo, in front of the governmental seat.

"In response," Zugadi continued, "the United Left called the ' Marcha del No' : no to the foreign debt, no to the release of the military officers imprisoned for violations of human rights, no to unemployment, and so on.

''The IU, which got 2 percent of the votes as opposed to 50 percent by the winning · party in the presidential elections, brought 90,000 protesters to the Plaza," Zugadi said.

Probes by military

At the same time, he pointed out, the military is making probes for openings in the context of this crisis.

"The commanders of the carapintadas - Aldo Rico and Mohamed Seineldin -are touring the country," Zugadi said. ''They go to the unions and meet with workers offering them a perspective supposedly anti­imperialist, most definitely anticommunist, and for the development of a 'Roman Cath­olic country."'

The carapintadas - which literally means painted faces, a reference to the camouflage grease worn by soldiers - were the main force behind the unsuccessful military revolts against Alfonsin. A few of them were jailed for some time and others were forced to retire.

"They are working with a section of the military, the Peronist union officials, and the Catholic church hierarchy,'' said Zugadi.

In February, Menem authorized the armed forces to take responsibility for internal se­curity in case the economic problems spark social unrest.

"There are now plans for larger U.S.-Ar­gentine maneuvers in September in the country's northern region near Brazil and Paraguay, between the Iguazu Falls and the Buenos Aires delta region," Zugadi said.

Bonn, E. Berlin see abortion rights actions BY LUKO WILLMS

FRANKFURT, West Germany- Dem­onstrations for a woman's right .to abortion were held in the two German capitals and in some other cities in East Germany on June 16.

In Bonn, West Germany's capital, more than 10,000 protestors from all over West and East Germany participated in the largest abortion rights action in many years. The demonstration was called by a coalition that included feminist groups, the Young Social­ists, student organizations, the Communist Party, women of the German Social Demo­cratic Party, the Green Party, and trade unions.

In East Berlin, 100 women marched in a demonstration called by the Independent Women's Association and other feminist groups. They protested against the possible adoption of West German abortion laws in East Germany or in a unified Germany. Smaller actions were held in other East Ger­man cities.

Sharpening attacks on the right to abortion in West Germany and a debate on the future of abortion laws in a unified Germany

sparked the actions. "Delete Article 218-women should themselves decide!'' was the central slogan in Bonn.

Article 218 is the law in West Germany that declares abortion a punishable crime. Women are allowed an abortion only in spec­ified exceptional situations and then only during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. A woman seeking an abortion must see a doctor who has to testify that the woman's health is in danger, the fetus deformed, or the preg­nancy was caused by rape. The woman must then submit to counselling by a certified agency after which she may be permitted to have the abortion, but only from a second doctor.

Women in East Germany have had the right to an abortion on demand during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy since 1972.

"We have to fight together so that German unification is not achieved to the detriment of women," said Gudrun Hamacher, a mem­ber of the executive board of the IG Metall union. The West German-based union has 2.6 million members.

The threat of the West German law being thrust upon East German women raises "a

new and long forgotten subject" for East German women, Christina Schenk, repre­senting the Independent Women's Associa­tion, said in East Berlin. She called for a unified German state to guarantee a woman's right to choose abortion and for the extension of East Germany's abortion laws to all of Germany. ''This is the first common fight of the all-German women's movement" she concluded.

In northern parts of West Germany, abor­tion prohibitions are loosely enforced, but conditions in the two southern federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Wtirttemberg are much more difficult. In Bavaria abortions can only be performed in hospitals, and the government has also initiated a bill to further restrict the right to abortion.

"Beware a united Memmingen!" was a popular slogan in the Bonn demonstration, a warning about extending the situation in Ba­varia to a unified Germany. The small Ba­varian city ofMemmingen has been the scene of trials against 150 women for having illegal abortions performed by Dr. Horst Theissen, who has been sentenced to 30 months in prison. One of the women who has faced trial spoke at the rally.

Abortion rights activists from Ireland, Italy, and France also spoke at the Bonn rally. The National Organization for Women in the United States sent greetings, as did women's groups. from a number of other countries.

Washington suspends talks with PLO BY HARRY RING

Striking the posture of a neutral peace­maker, Washington suspended negotiations with the Palestine liberation Organization while joining with Moscow in pressuring the Israeli regime to back off on settling Soviet Jewish emigres in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Suspension of the talks with the PLO came on the heels of a U.S. veto of a UN Security Council initiative to send an investigation team to Gaza and the West Bank. The pro­posed investigation was prompted by a sharp escalation of Israeli repression in both areas.

The cutoff of the talks with the PW was announced June 20 by President George Bush. He justified it with the assertion that the PLO had not condemned to U.S. satis­faction an aborted military raid on a Tel Aviv beach by a dissident PLO faction.

Responding to Bush, a spokesperson for PLO chairman Yassir Arafat declared, "I don't think there's anybody in the PLO who would have accepted any action from the chairman that surrendered to America's bul­lying and blackmail."

The Palestine liberation Front, a small PLO affiliate led by Abul Abbas, took re­sponsibility for the May 30 seaborne attack. Four Palestinians were killed and 11 captured in the aborted operation.

In the wake of the incident, the PW declared, 'The PLO position remains un­changed. We are against any military actions that target civilians, whatever form it may take."

PLOprobe The PLO then opened an investigation into

whether the raid had been aimed at civilians. Testifying before the investigating com­

mission, Abbas insisted the attack had not targeted civilians, noting that one group of raiders made it to shore and did nothing to harm people nearby.

The U.S.-PLO talks had been initiated by Washington in December 1988, which de­clared then it was satisfied that the PLO had renounced "terrorism" and recognized Is­rael's right to exist. But the talks were re­stricted by the U.S. government to marginal procedural issues and accomplished nothing of substance.

However, the decision to deal formally with the PLO constituted a breach with the Israeli government, which has persistently refused to engage in open negotiations with the PLO.

Washington to the contrary, favors an ad­ditional tactic of trying to pressure and swin­dle the PLO into adopting a more "moderate" position -that is, to use its leadership influ­ence to curb the West Bank and Gaza upris­ing, the intifada.

The decision to open talks with the PW and the decision to suspend them are both aimed at accomplishing this.

Washington's frictions with Israel involve more than tactical disputes on how to best

·box in the PW. U.S. oil and financial inter­ests have big stakes in the oil-rich Middle

East. While Washington uses Israel as a pillar in the area, it is also careful to maintain ties with various Arab regimes. ·

Balancing act The State Department is constantly busy

juggling these interests, balancing between Israel and the Arab governments and main­taining links with both. For example, Israel receives a record $3 billion a year in U.S. aid, but Egypt is a runner-up with $2.3 billion.

In mid-June, Secretary of State James Baker publicly rebuked Israeli Prime Minis­ter Yitzhak Shamir for sandbagging the "peace process" and suggested Washington had no choice but to suspend its efforts in this regard

Commenting on this in the June 15' New York Times, Thomas Friedman, a reporter with close government ties, said this did not mean that Washington would now abstain.

He explained that "a powerful inducement for Washington to remain diplomatically en­gaged is the fact that it is Middle East peace­making that provides the bridge between American interests in the Arab world and American interests in Israel."

It waS that concern for maintaining its links with the Arab regimes that led Washington to join with Moscow in compelling the Sha­mir government to declare it would not pro­mote the settlement of Soviet Jewish emigres in the West Bank and Gaza. The threat of such a settlement policy had evoked outrage throughout the Arab world.

Meanwhile, the intifada, now in its 31st month, reached an explosive new level; with the murder of seven Palestinians in the Israeli town of Rishon le Zion.

That act of carnage by Ami Popper, a former member of the Israeli army, sparked a huge protest throughout the West Bank and

· Gaza. There was also a new level of militant protest by Palestinians living inside Israel's pre-1967 borders. In several cases these pro­tests were joined by other Israelis.

Spreads to Jordan These developments were buttressed by

protests in neighboring Jordan that were the biggest since the intifada began. Large num­bers of the Palestinians driven from their homeland by the Israeli government have settled in Jordan and now constitute some 60 percent of the population there.

The Palestinian paper, al-Fajr, reported that there were protests in virtually every refugee camp and city in Jordan. There were a number of bloody clashes with troops and police.

In the capital city of Amman, the Marriott Hotel was attacked and troops had to prevent protesters from marching on the U.S. em­bassy. . In the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli troops

responded to the protests with new repression. In the week -long protest, 23 Palestinians were reported killed and nearly 900 injured. This prompted the motion for a UN investigation, later vetoed by the U.S. government.

At the time of the bloodletting in Rishon

le Zion, Israeli authorities were quick to declare the killer deranged. But on June 18 Israeli army radio reported that after psychi­atric tests, Popper was declared fit for trial. He was indicted for murder of the seven Palestinians and for attempted murder of I 0 others who were wounded.

East Berlin action opposing \\est Ger­man abortion laws. Placard reads, "Lo­thar, don't send us women to misery!" Lothar de Maiziere is East German prime minister.

Greetings sent to Workers Party of Korea by U.S. socialist convention

The following greetings were sent to the \\brkers Party of Korea in Pyongyang, North Korea, by the national convention of the Socialist Wlrkers Party. The gath­ering was held in Chicago June 7-10.

The delegates of the 35th National Con­vention of the Socialist Workers Party convey warm revolutionary greetings and solidarity to you and the people of Korea in your struggle for reunification.

For almost a century imperialist occupa­tion forces -first Japanese and then U.S. -have plundered your country, violated its sovereignty, and denied the Korean people's right to self -determination.

Forty-five years ago, as your nation reas­serted its independence, U.S. troops invaded the south, crushing the popular uprising that declared the People's Republic of Korea. A U.S.-backed regime was installed there, which continues to rule today through bloody repression.

Forty years ago Washington carried out its criminal aggression aimed at conquering all of Korea. Millions of Koreans were killed or wounded, and thousands ofU .S. Gls lost their lives in this imperialist war. Korean patriots fought heroically and, together with interna­tional volunteers from the People's Republic of China, stalemated the U.S. invasion at the

· 38th Parallel. Today the division of Korea remains the

most important and explosive unresolved national division imposed by the U.S. impe­rialist rulers in the aftermath of World War II. The U.S. nuclear weapons stationed in the south and aimed at the north register this fact. Washington's aggression against your coun­try continues to this day, as exemplified by the "Team Spirit 90" military maneuvers off your coast.

The Socialist Workers Party pledges to tell the truth about the history and current reality of Washington's dirty war against your coun­try. These facts have been covered up and hidden from the working people of the United States. We will continue to join with others in the United States, in Korea, and throughout the world who demand that Washington un­conditionally withdraw all U.S. forces from Korea now.

We further pledge to continue our uncom­promising support for the Korean people's just struggle for reunification. Your call to tear down the wall built by South Korean forces with U.S. aid; for freedom of travel and exchange between north and south; for

a single Korean seat in the United Nations; for talks between north and south to produce a nonaggression pact; and for a united front of all Koreans for reunification, deserve the support of working people worldwide.

U.S. out of Korea now! Tear down the wall!

Mandela posters a postcards

Order your own copy of this portrait of Nelson Mandela.

Painting is by South African artist Dumile Feni and appears on the Pathfinder Mural in New York City. The six-story artwork celebrates the lives and writings of working-class and revolution­ary leaders whose works are published by Pathfinder Press. • Color poster ..... $10 each • Color postcard .... $1 each Bulk order prices are: FO!Ita's: I 0 or more, $8 each • 20 or more, $6 ea. • 30 or more, $5 ea. Foetc:ards: I 0 for $8 • 50 or more, 50¢ ea. Order from Friends of the Pathfinder Mural, 191 7th Ave. New Yoril., N.Y. 1 00 1 1. Tel: (212) 727-8421.

July 6,1990 The MiHtant ll

-CALENDAR GEORGIA Atlanta

YOUNG SOCIALIST ALIJANCE CLASS SERIES

Celebrate Nelson Mcmdela's U.S. visit Canada's Rulers Face Political Crisis: Sup­port for Quebec Self-Determination Grows. Speaker: Bob Braxton, Socialist Workers Party. Sat., July 7, 7:30p.m. 132 Cone St. NW, 2nd floor. Donation: $2.50. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. Tel: (404) 577-4065.

IOWA Des Moines Welcome Nelson Mandela! Keep the Pres­sure on Apartheid! Speakers: Nan Bailey, So­cialist Workers Party candidate for governor of Iowa, member United Food and Commercial Workers Local431; Jeff Weiss, member Ames Coalition Against Apartheid. Translation to Spanish. Sat., June 30, 7:30 p.m. 2105 Forest Ave. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. Tel: (515) 246-8249.

MARYLAND Baltimore The Struggle for Palestinian Self-Determina­tion. Panel discussion. Sat., July 7. Dinner, 6 p.m.; program, 7:30 p.m. 2913 Greenmount Ave. Donation: dinner $3; program, $2. Spon­sor: Militant Labor Forum. Tel: (301) 235-0013.

LOS ANGELES Open house and class: What Is Apa:rthe1d? Sat .. June 30, 2 p.m.

, Young People F1gbt Aga1nst Aparthe1d

. Sat .. July 7. 3 p.m. "W1th Cuba, We Have a Dependable Friend" -Nelson Mandela Sat .. July 14. 3 p.m. The F1ght Aga1nst Aparthe1d and Radsm 1n the Un1ted States Sat .. July 21. 3 p.m. All classes held at 2546 W. Pico Blvd.

NEBRASKA Omaha March Against Racism. Stop police brutality. For affirmative action. Protest racist attacks. Sat., July 7, 4 p.m. Omaha City Hall, 18th and Farnam. Sponsor: Omaha Coalition Against Racism. For more information call Urban

'Continue sanctions,' says Mandela Continued from page 9 Bush and the U.S. Congress, the ANC dele­gation spent June 24-26 in Washington, D.C.

In a welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn prior to a meeting between Bush and Mandela. Bush prodded the ANC leader, calling on "all elements of South Mrican society to renounce the use of violence and armed struggle."

Mandela responded that Bush's remarks "are due to the fact that he has not yet got a proper briefing from us .... The methods of political action which are used by the Black people of South Africa were determined by the South African government."

1be usual decorum of such formal cere­monies was broken by White House employ­ees, many of whom are Black, who cheered Mandela from windows and on the grounds.

Following the White House meeting, Mandela was given an enthusiastic greeting at the national headquarters of the AFL-CIO by the building staff. A meeting with the trade union federation's executive board followed.

AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland pledged to "oppose the removal of sanctions and support their strengthening until apart­heid joins segregation in the dustbin of his­tory, and until you and your comrades .. . take your rightful place in the leadership of a truly just. democratic, and humane society."

Congress convened a special joint meeting at which Mandela presented a speech, evok­ing the revolutionary struggles from U.S. history, including the 1776 War of Indepen­dence to the Civil War and the fight for Black rights.

Only two other "private citizens" have addressed such a meeting of Congress. The senators and representatives interrupted Mandela's speech 19 times with applause, including three standing ovations.

"We could not have made an acquaintance through literature with human giants such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson, and not been moved to act as they were moved to act," he said.

"We could not have heard of and admired John Brown, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others ... and not be moved to act as they were moved to act."

The adoption by Congress of the sanctions bill in 1986 "made such a decisive contribu­tion to the process of moving our country foward toward negotiations," Mandela said. He asked the Congress to financially contrib­ute to the ANC to assist in rebuilding the organization in South Africa.

A meeting of some 2,500 at'a local church heard Winnie Mandela June 24. Representa­tives of dozens of national and local women's rights organizations spoke at the meeting saluting the contribution of South Mrican women in the fight to destroy apartheid.

At a June 24 press conference with jour­nalists from Black-owned news organiza­tions, Mandela denounced Washington's support for the counterrevolutionary group UNIT A, which has carried out a devastating contra war against Angola.

"The United States and South Africa are the main countries supporting [UNIT A leader Jonas] Savirnbi, and we strongly condemn that. All countries should respect the political sovereignty and territorial integrity of Angola and no assistance should be rendered to Savimbi," he said.

The Washington, D .C., Convention Center was filled to its capacity of 20,000 for the only public event of the tour stop. Through­out the three days, Mandela generated tre­mendous public enthusiasm.

Tel: (213) 380-9460

MIAMI What Is Apa:rthe1d? & T.he F1gbt Aga1nst Apartbe1d and Radsm 1n the Un1ted States Srm., July 1, 11 to 1 p.m. and 2 to4p.m. 137 NE 54th St. Tel: (305) 756-1020

DES MOINES, IOWA aass Thurs., July 5, 7:30p.m . 2105 Forest Ave. Tel: (515) 246-8249

NEW YORK- NEW JERSEY Brooklyn, Manhattan, Newark

League (402) 453-9730 or Nebraskans for Peace 453-0776.

NEW YORK Brooklyn United Airlines: Can Workers Save Jobs, Improve Conditions by Buying Their Com­pany? Speaker: Patty Iiyama, Socialist Workers Party, member International Association of Ma­chinists Local 1322. Sat., June 30, 7:30 p.m. 464 Bergen. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. Tel: (718) 398-6983.

PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh Nelson Mandela's U.S. Visit. Video coverage and reports from New York, Boston, Atlanta, and Detroit Mandela rallies. Speaker: Holly Harkness, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Congress. Sun., July 1, 6 p.m. 4905 Penn Ave. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. Tel: (412) 362-6767. Revolutionary Cuba Today. Slideshow pre­sentation and video excerpt of TV interview with Fidel Castro. Speaker: Nancy Brown, So­cialist Workers Party, on strike against Eastern, recently returned from Cuba. Sun., July 8, 6 p.m. 4905 Penn Ave. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. Tel: (412) 362-6767.

TEXAS Houston Support the Machinists on Strike at Eastern Airlines. Protest the start-up of Eastern flights out of Houston Hobby. Picket from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thurs. July 5. Flight departures at 7 a.m., 10:15 a.m., and 4:05p.m. For more information call lAM strike headquarters, (713) 540-7511. Nelson Mandela and the South African Free­dom Struggle. Translation to Spanish. Sat., July 14,7:30 p.m. 4806 Almeda. Donation: $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum/Foro Per­spectiva Mundial. For more information call (713) 522-8054.

• BRITAIN Cardiff Teamster Rebellion: The Story of the 1934 U.S. Teamsters Strike. Speaker: Will Carroll, Communist League, member Amalgamated En­gineering Union on strike at Renolds Chains. Sat., July 7, 7 p.m. 9 Moira Terrace, Ad­amsdown. Donation: £1. Sponsor: Militant Fo­rums. Tel: 0222-484677.

London Namibia Today. Speaker: Sandi Sijake, Na-

-IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP Where to find Pathfinder books and distribu­tors of the Milillmt, Perspectiva Mundial, New IntenuJtional, Nouvelle lnternlllionale, and Lutte ouvmre.

UNITED STATES ALABAMA: Birmingham: 1306 1st Ave.

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12 The Militant July 6,1990

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tional Union of Namibian Workers, imprisoned 15 years by South African government on Robben Island. Fri., July 6, 7:30 p.m. 47 The Cut, SE 1. Donation: £1. Sponsor: Militant Fo­rums. Tel: 71-928-7947. Manchester Justice for Mark Curtis. Report on latest de­velopments in defense campaign for the framed-up unionist and activist from Des Moines, Iowa. Speaker: Andy Buchanan, Mili­tant reporter at UN Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva. Showing of video The Frame-Up of Mark Curtis. Wed., July 11, 7:30 p.m. Unit 4, 60 Shudehill. Donation: £1. Sponsor: Militant Forums. Tel: 061-839 1766.

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Sheffield International Stakes in the Mark Curtis De­fense Campaign. Speakers: Denny Fitzpatrick, participant in "parallel activities" at Copenha­gen sitting of UN Helsinki committee; Jo O'Brien, Sheffield Supporters of the Mark Cur­tis Defense Committee. Fri., July 6, 7:30 p.m. 2A Waverley House, 10 Joiner St. Donation: £1. Sponsor: Militant Forums. Te l: 0742-729469.

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-THE GREAT SOCIETY--------------------~-------Free-market cure - "If you U.S. military agreed to cede to Japan Sounds reasonable - "If the to- reconsideration, this was changed to many tumors of the testicles as mil-

can diminish the availability of co- some 2,000 acres of its 50,000-acre bacco companies can say what they 21 days, suspended. itary dogs that served elsewhere, a base there. Officials said the transfer think, why can't I say what I think?" study has found." caine and get the price up in the

United States, fewer people will use might take several years since re- -Poster artist Melissa Antonow. Complex stand - A Quebec it."- Donald Hamilton, a federal placement sites would have to be workers' compensation board ruled Dick Tracy -In May, housing

provided for some key installations Business is business -Many in- that Provigo, a supermarket chain, starts fell for the fourth month in a like, for instance, the U.S. golf surance companies offer discounts provide a stool for one of its cash- row, dropping to their lowest level course. to nonsmokers because they tend to iers. She had suffered back and leg since the last recession. According

live longer. Several of the insurance pains. Indicating they would appeal, to one news account, analysts see

"Also, he's nude"- A New companies that do so are owned by a Provigo official said, "To the out- the decline "as further evidence that

Harry York citizen's group tried to buy tobacco companies. And 25 insur- sider it looked like a big, bad cor- the housing market continues to

subway ad space for a poster by ance companies have more than $1 poration refusing to give chairs to weaken."

Ring Melissa Antonow, 12. It depicts the billion invested in tobacco stock. its employees, but the issue is much

Marlboro man as a skeleton riding more complex than that." Thought for the week -"What

official explaining the rationale be-through a cemetery, with a slogan, Law 'n order, Israeli style -In we have been doing in the United

hind U.S. military intervention in "Come to where the cancer is." The Gaza City, some 160 infants were Maybe now they'll do some- States iscuttingourwages."- For-

Peru. advertising agency that handles sub- overcome by fumes when Israeli sol- thing- "WASHINGTON (AP) mer labor secretary Raymond Mar-way ads for the city rejected the diers fired tear gas canisters into a - Military dogs that served in Viet- shall, noting that real wages have

· poster, assuring that its decision was UN child-care clinic June 12. The nam and were exposed to the same dropped 12 percent in 20 years and Big-hearted Uncle - To ap- unrelated to its ad work for tobacco officer responsible was sentenced by chemical sprays as American sol- that a dozen countries now have

pease angry Okinawa residents, the companies. a military court to 10 days in jail. On diers developed almost twice as higher wages than the United States.

Canada's antidemocratic constitution is defeated ·Continued from front page ment by June 23, 1990, or become void.

But the refusal of the Manitoba and New­foundland ggvemments to support even the minor verbal concession given to Quebec precipitated . the deal's collapse when the deadline passed.

The openly anti-Quebec chauvinism of an entire wing of Canada's rulers helped fuel the growing determination of Quebecois to demand their national rights. Quebecois are an oppressed, French-speaking nationality in Canada, a predominantly English-speaking country of 26 million.

According to opinion polls, a majority of Quebec's 6 million people, 80 percent of whom are Quebecois, now support some form of Quebec independence. Rhythmic chants of "in-de-pen-dance" were taken up by participants along the entire three-mile route.

On June 24, after the original event was postponed that day due to predictions of rain, a spontaneous 12-hour march of 5,000 to 10,000 young people strode through city streets demanding an independent Quebec.

On the eve of the Fete nationale the Quebec Federation of Labor published a major ad in the daily papers that called for a sovereign Quebec as "an indispensable con­dition for forging a country and institutions which respond to the needs and priorities of the majority of the people."

Opposition by Native Indians

It was not only the resistance of Quebecois that defeated the constitutional maneuvers of

Canada's capitalist rulers. In fact, in the fmal two weeks leading up to the June 23 legal deadline for passage of the amendment, it was the determined opposition of Native Indian people that proved decisive.

Several thousand Natives took part in demonstrations and meetings across the country in support of the successful efforts of Elijah Harper, Manitoba's sole Native member of that province's legislature, to block any possibility of its passage there. The large majority of Canada's 1 million Natives and their organizations oppose the 1982 con­stitution, which gives no meaningful recog­nition to their rights.

Natives were particularly angry that they were completely excluded from the Meech Lake round of constitutional negotiations, as they had been before the approval of the 1982 · constitution.

"What we're fighting for is democracy," Harper told a demonstration of 3,000 Natives · and their supporters at the Manitoba provin­cial legislature June 21. Natives are demand­ing "the very same goals" as·the Quebecois, he explained: self -determination and self­government.

The federal and Quebec governments both tried to claim that the Natives' determination to "kill Meech Lake" was directed against the Quebecois.

Phil Fontaine, the head of the Manitoba Assembly of Chiefs, denied the charge in an open letter that was published in Quebec newspapers. "We, the Native people of Man­itoba, understand and solidarize with your strong determination to preserve and pro-

Puerto Rican freedom fighters receive heroes' welcome in New York BY MAREA HIMELGRIN AND EVELYN VEGA

BROOKLYN, N.Y.- Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irving Flores, and Oscar Collazo - heroes of the struggle for Puerto Rican independence who each spent some 25 years in U.S. prisons - were in town to participate in the Harlem rally for Nelson Man­dela on June 21. There they were introduced to the crowd of l 00,000 assembled on 125th Street.

On June 22, the last day of Man­dela's New York visit, several hun­dred gathered outside the Cultural Center of Brooklyn's Williams­burg section to welcome Cancel Miranda, Flores, and Collazo.

The four independence fighters - along with Andres Figueroa Cordero - were incarcerated in Lolita Lebron federal penitentiaries for taking up

Roberto A. Lugo

arms against the colonial status Washington imposes on Puerto Rico. Four of the five had been tried and convicted for a 1954 attack on the House of Repre­sentatives, which had just passed new leg­islation on the island's status. A movement for their freedom gained worldwide sup­port and won the release of all five by 1979.

The Williamsburg event was an oppor­tunity for many young people to see these legendary figures. The fighters were wel-

corned by chants of "lndependencia para Puerto Rico!"

"We were categorized as assassins," said Cancel Miranda to the crowd. "But if you look at the history of this country -from the slaughter of the Indians to the enslavement of Blacks to the exploitation and daily humiliation of Puerto Rican and Asian workers to the invasion of Panama - you have to say that is the politics of assassination."

mote the French language and culture in Canada. We are fighting for . our language and culture" as well.

There was widespread support for the Na­tive demands among participants in Montre­al's June 25 events. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs received up to 600 tele­phone calls of support per day from non-Na­tives across the country.

The federal government brought enor­mous pressure to bear on Native leaders to lift their opposition to the Meech Lake ac­cord, using thinly veiled threats of economic reprisals. These maneuvers were publicly denounced by Native leaders.

"What could happen to us that's any worse than how we are living already?" Phil Fon­taine asked in an interview. "We are the poorest among the poor. . . . In several res­ervations the unemployment rate is close to 90 percent; 85 percent live on welfare; our suicide rate is six times the national average; 50 percent of our people over 15 are illiterate; our housing conditions are deplorable; 22 percent of prisoners in federal penitentiaries are Natives even though we only comprise 5 percent of the population."

Native leaders insisted that a constitution that did not address any of these problems would never receive their support.

'Victory for working people' ''The defeat of the Meech Lake accord is

a major victory, not only for Quebecois and Natives, but for working people across Can­ada," explained the Communist League's three candidates in upcoming mayoral elec­tions in Montreal and provincial elections in Ontario and British Columbia. Michel Dugre, Joe Young, and Katy Lerougetel in a

statement said that Ortawa's constitutional maneuvers had been defeated by the resis­tance of the oppressed, not primarily by the infighting among capitalist politicians di­vided over how to respond to that resistance.

"This victory has significantly strength­ened the self-confidence and determination of Quebecois and Natives in the fight for their national and democratic rights," the statement emphasized.

As a result the political crisis of Canada's rulers has deepened further. Seven federal members of Parliament from Quebec have resigned from the two major national parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives. Along with other MPs who are rumored to be re­signing, they're expected to form a new proindependence party in Parliament.

Canada's capitalist politicians and media are now openly debating whether or not it is still possible to maintain a single Canadian state and block the dynamic towards Quebec independence or some form of loose confed­eration.

''This country's capitalist rulers have al­ways tried to convince working people that we have a stake in defending 'Canadian unity' rather then the unity of the oppressed and exploited," the three communist candi­dates pointed out. "But Canada is organized and governed solely in order to defend the profits of a tiny handful of wealthy capitalist families.

''The labor movement can only advance by fighting to defend the just demands of all of the dispossessed against the ruling rich. That's why the defeat of the Meech Lake accord as a result of the struggles of Natives and Quebecois should be cheered by every worker in this country."

-10 AND 25 YEARS AGO-----'-TH£ MILITANT July4, 1980

Washington's campaign against the Gre­nada revolution took a sharp tum on June 19 with the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop during a terrorist bombing of a mass rally in the Grenadian capital of St. George's.

Bishop and other Grenadian leaders who were present escaped uninjured, but two young women were killed and dozens of persons were wounded.

THE MILITANT Published in the Interests of the Worlr:ing People

July 12, 1965 Price !Oc

The military coup in Algeria June 19 ended the alliance between the wing of the National Liberation Front (FLN) led by Ahmed Ben Bella- which was oriented toward socialism, linking itself to the masses through "workers' self-management"­and the one headed by Houari Boumedienne, which favored an Islamic "Arab socialism."

The coup places in danger the main con­quest of the revolution up to now -workers' self-management of the national­ized enterprises.

The absence of any support for the coup from the unions or the youth of the FLN, the massive arrests of left-wing militants, the first popular demonstrations against the coup and in favor of Ben Bella, all confirm this estimate.

The reasons for the easy victory of the coup are clear. There was no genuine mass party of the vanguard capable of mobilizing the most politically conscious sector of the toiling population of the towns and country­side on a nationwide scale. The second agrarian reform was interminably post­poned, thus disappointing the most disinher­ited layers of the .countryside, to whom their revolution . has not yet brought any funda­mental change in their miserable standard of living.

No solution was worked out to the bitter problem of unemployment, thus contribut­ing to a grave rise in apathy and the progres­sive demobilization of the masses, who demonstrated their support for a revolution­ary socialist orientation by the hundreds of thousands in March and May 1963.

The decision of the FLN congress to construct a genuine popular militia, thus arming the workers and poor peasants, was never carried out. The army was be­coming a professional force holding a privileged position in relation to the rest of the population.

The increasing personal Bonapartism of Ben Bella was a big factor in his downfall, reflecting the narrowing basis of his rule and therefore his increasing vulnerability.

July 6,1990 The Militant 13

-EDITORIALS-----~---

New attacks on abortion rights On June 25 the U$. Supreme Court ruled that it is

constitutional for states to pass laws that require unmarried women under the age of 18 to notify their parents before having an abortion. It affirmed this ruling in two separate decisions, upholding parental consent laws in Ohio and Minnesota. -

The Ohio law requires women to notify one parent. It includes a "bypass procedure" that gives the young woman the right to a judicial hearing if she does not wish to involve her parents. To exercise the bypass procedure, she must provide "clear and convincing" evidence that she should not be required to notify a parent.

The Minnesota law is _even more restrictive. It requires notification of both parents even if one of the parents does not live at home or has never even seen the young woman. According to the court the law does not deny a woman her constitutional right to an abortion because a judicial bypass procedure is allowed. The Minnesota law also has a section that requires a woman to wait 48 hours after notifying her parents before terminating the pregnancy.

The cynicism of this move by the court is evident in the fact that the judges were aware that only half the teenagers in Minnesota actually live with both of their biological parents. Not to mention the obvious fiction that teenagers in need of abortions can easily initiate court proceedings.

The decision is a direct attack on Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that established the right of women to abortion.

The majority opinion in Roe v. Wade states that "a right of personal privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy, does exist under the Constitution .... This right of privacy is broad enough to encompass a woman's deci­sion whether or not to terminate her pregnancy." For young women in Ohio and Minnesota the right to privacy has been taken away by the court.

The decisions by the Supreme Court are a blow aimed not only at women but at all working people.

It is women, and only women, who must have the right to decide when or if they will have children. Without the right to abortion women do not have control over their own bodies, which means they cannot be politically, socially, or economically equal to men. It puts a limit on women

becoming self-confident fighters alongside men in the bat­tles working people are waging today or in struggles to come.

The right to privacy - which is at the heart of Roe v. Wade - was an important gain for working people. It was won in the course of the civil rights movement and strength­ened by the fight for abortion rights. Chipping away at this right weakens our ability to form political organizations free of government harassment and to defend those organiza­tions. It also makes government intervention lll!d monitoring of our private lives easier.

These recent court rulings are part of a series of decisions by the court that have weakened Roe v. Wade. These attacks come in the context of the offensive by the employers in recent years that has cut our wages and eroded our standard of living. The aim of the employing class is to destroy the combativeness and self-confidence of working people and deepen the divisions among us. The bosses are driven to do this to reverse their declining rate of profit. The Supreme Court is an instrument for their policy.

The court is not yet willing to face the explosion that would be the consequence of outlawing abortion altogether. It does, however, place humiliating and demeaning road­blocks in the path of women making what should be private decisions. The laws will result in an increase in unwanted pregnancies carried to term, unsafe and botched abortions, and death among the many young women who will be unable to comply with the restrictions.

The framers of these laws understand that they will not stop abortions from being performed. Their approach and the approach of the Supreme Court has been to strike at those who are the most vulnerable in the fight over abortion rights- the young and the poor- to divide them off and make them pariah layers without rights and beyond the bounds of solidarity. At the same time they strive to lay the basis for further legal challenges to weaken the foundations of Roe v. Wade.

The aim of working people should be the opposite. We should protest these recent Supreme Court decisions. We should bring this issue to our unions and organizations and organize to defend the right of all women to choose.

A challenge for U.S. labor Continued from front page

The deepening struggle in South Africa and Mandela's call for international solidarity poses a challenge to the labor movement in the United States and other countries. It highlights the need for a major educational effort about the South African freedom struggle. It underlines the need to bring the weight of the unions to bear in the struggle to pressure the government on every level to continue eco­nomic sanctions, to enforce them, and extend them.

Workers and union members around the country should take up Mandela's message: until there is a nonracial, non­sexist, democratic South Africa there will be no peace.

The imposition and inaintenance of sanctions have con­tributed to isolating South Africa internationally. This has occurred in the context of Pretoria's momentous defeat in southern Angola at the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 1988, which reversed apartheid's expansionist course and led to the independence of Namibia. This gave impetus to the massive protests and demonstrations inside South Africa in the past year; and to the deepening of the organization and heightened struggles by working people in wban areas and the countryside. Under the banner of the Congress of South African Trade Unions millions of workers are strengthening and extending trade union organization.

In his June 22 address to the UN, Mandela declared, apartheid "will forever remain an indelible blight on human history." Future generations will surely wonder, he said, how such an abominable system established itself.

In Harlem to 1 00,000 people Mandela said that at the end of the 20th century, ''It is intolerable and unacceptable that the cancer of racism is still eating away at the fabric of societies in different parts of our planet." He called apart­heid ~·one of the most important global issues confronting all humanity."

The struggle to abolish apartheid is of similar world significance as the revolutionary battle in the last century to abolish chattel slavery in the United States. And just as that struggle helped to inspire and revitalize the working-class

14 The Militant July 6,1990

struggle in Britain and other countries, destroying apartheid will inspire and help advance the confidence of working people in the United States today.

The challenge to the labor movement to take up the fight to help eradicate apartheid is comparable to the challenge that faced the labor movement in the United States in the 1950s and '60s during the struggle to smash Jim Crow segregation and win civil rights for Blacks, and the battle during the 1960s and '70s to stop the U.S. war in Vietnam. However, the big majority of unions dido 't throw their weight behind these fights.

The opportunity for the labor movement to weigh in today in the historic fight to destroy apartheid is much greater. This is because there is a new resistance among workers right now. There have been increasing struggles between labor and the employers recently where a layer of workers have increased their determination, confidence, and class understanding- from the Eastern Airlines work­ers and Greyhound bus drivers to union coal miners who won a fight against Pittston's union-busting efforts.

This fighting spirit, the experiences more and more workers are gaining in struggle, and the confidence that comes with standing IJP for your rights and mounting a fight opens up new possibilities for labor to heed the call to help abolish apartheid.

It's precisely the labor movement that has the power in numbers - trade unions being the biggest organizations working people have- and the resources needed to mount such a fight to "keep the pressure on" South Africa.

The growing layers of battle-tested union fighters can help lead this fight and help mobilize broad support from working farmers, whose South African counterparts are fighting for the right to till the land; from students; and from all progressive-minded people.

The overwhelming response by working people to Mandela's visit shows the grand potential that exists to mobilize the broadest forces possible - workers not yet in unions, the unemployed - to be part of the struggle to rid the earth of the repugnant system of apartheid.

Frame-up in the redwood forests BY DOUG JENNESS

SAN FRANCISCO -Whenever working-class mili­tants or other fighters for social justice challenge the pre­rogatives of big business or their political representatives, they are bound to run into police beatings, scab or vigilante violence, frame-ups, jailings, and killings.

Four union militants are serving long prison terms in Kentucky on frame-up charges related to the shooting death of a scab during the 1984-85 miners' strike against A.T. Massey Coal Co.; and John McCoy, a union activist, was killed earlier this year on a picket line in West Vrrginia.

A striking Greyhound bus driver was killed in the northern California town of Redding by a scab-driven bus in March.

LEARNING ABOUT SOCIALISM Other strikers throughout the country have been arrested on frame-up charges of "violence" related to shootings at Greyhound buses.

In Iowa packinghouse worker Mark Curtis is serving 25 years on frame-up charges of rape and burglary. He is a union and political activist who was involved in the struggle to defend Latino coworkers threatened with deportation.

In New York City, 60-year-old J;»uerto Rican muralist Rafael Rivera-Garcia is being tried on charges of"attempted murder," after shooting a racist who violently attacked him following months of harassment aimed at driving him and his family out of the neighborhood where they live.

Activists fighting to curb the squandering of our natural resources and the destruction of our environment by big­business profiteers are also meeting violent abuse by the cops and vigilantes. Here, in northern California, two leaders of the struggle to end the cutting of giant redwoods were injured when a pipe bomb blew up in their car on May 24 as they were driving through Oakland. Darryl Cherney suffered facial cuts, and Judi Bari is still in the hospital recovering from a broken pelvis and other injuries. The activists and their organization - Earth First! - had re­ceived at least 50 death threats in recent months.

As if this murderous attack wasn't enough, however, Alameda County authorities said the bomb belonged to the two victims and accused them of possessing a booby trap and violating state explosive laws. The court ordered that each post a $100,000 bail bond.

Since then the FBI and county authorities claim they have been conducting an investigation. So far, however, they have not brought any formal charges against the two. An arraignment scheduled for May 29 was postponed Another hearing set for June 22 was rescheduled to July 18 when the district attorney's office announced that the police and FBI investigation of the bombing "has not been completed."

Meanwhile, the two continue to be vilified in the press as the cops attempt to construct a frame-up case against them.

Bari and Cherney have been publicly prominent in or­ganizing and promoting a series of protests called "Redwood Summer" that began June 20. The protests have included sit-ins to block trucks carrying redwood logs.

The targets are the biggest timber companies operating in the redwood forests of northern California. The three largest are: Louisiana Pacific, Pacific Lumber, and Georgia Pacific. Georgia Pacific and Louisiana Pacific, for example, own 555,000 acres of timberland in Mendocino County, and Pacific Lumber owns 195,000 acres of old-growth redwoods in Humboldt County.

Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world and are among the oldest, some of them having lived for a thousand years. At one time there were nearly 2 million acres of redwoods along the Pacific Coast from south of Monterey to southern Oregon. Today, the virgin redwood timber occupies less than 150,000 acres.

For decades people have struggled to conserve sections of these remarkable forests. A small Redwood National Park was established in 1968. Since then the federal government has purchased some more redwood land for a pretty penny. But most of the remaining forests are privately owned, and logging continues at an intensified pace.

Pacific Lumber, for example, was bought out with junk bonds in 1985 by Maxxam Group, Inc., a New York investment firm. The high level of debt fmancing means that in 1990 interest payments will approach $79 million. To help pay this interest, Maxxam has directed Pacific Lumber to triple its cutting of redwood timber.

This massive deforestation underlines the need for taking these lands out of private hands and making them govern­ment property.

The timber bosses attempt to convince loggers and saw­mill workers to support their fast-paced logging that clears thousands of acres, eliminating all the old growth and leaving no replacement trees. The alternative, they argue, is no jobs. But this is a fake trade-off and workers shouldn't accept it and should demand both jobs and environmental protection.

If the powers that be can get away with framing up Bari and Cherney, it will be a blow against all working people and fighters for justice. And it will make it easier for the bosses to launch attacks on unions in the logging industry.

Mandela speeches are weapon against apartheid Nelson Mandela Speeclu!s 1990: "Intensify the Struggle to Abolish Apartheid." Edited by Greg McCartan. New York: Pathf"mder, 199f). 74 pages, $4.00.

addresses to such diverse audiences as the 1,200 delegates to the second congress of the South African Youth Congress and participants in a conference of business executives in

over who fought to force governments to break ties with the outlaw apartheid regime. 'We are here,' he said, 'because you took the humane decision that you could not ignore the inhumanity represented by the apartheid system .. .. There­fore, do not listen to anyone who says that you must give up the struggle against apartheid. Reject any suggestion that the campaign to . isolate the apartheid system should be wound down,' he said, urging continuation of the economic, political, military, cultural, and sports sanctions against the government in Pretoria."

BY JUDY STRANAHAN Since his release from Victor Verster Prison near Cape

Town, South Africa, Nelson Mandela, deputy president of the African National Congress, has traveled extensively

Johannesburg. 1 "Through these speeches Mandela has turned to the

millions of workers, rural working people, and youth inside South Africa. He is charting a course to mobilize, educate, and organize tens of millions in the struggle to destroy the apartheid system.

IN REVIEW throughout Africa, Europe, and now North America speak-

"The response to Mandela's release and support for his political message since then register the extent to which working people and progressive-minded individuals the world over have come to recognize that apartheid is a crime against humanity.

Another theme that runs through many of Mandela's speeches is the need to build and strengthen the ANC.

ing at numerous rallies and meetings. · His speeches address rnany central questions and issues

facing the revolutionary struggle for a nonracial, democratic South Africa.

The new Pathfinder pamphlet, Nelson Mandela Speeches 1990: "Intensify the Struggle to Abolish Apartheid" con­tains seven speeches Mandela has given this year, plus his July 1989letterto then South African President Pieter Botha, which is a statement on the situation in South Africa. It also includes the Freedom Charter, the program of the ANC.

"Mandela's speeches at a huge anti-apartheid concert in Britain at London's Wembley Stadium- broadcast over radio and television to millions worldwide - and to tens of thousands of Angolans at a public rally in Luanda are also printed here.

McCartan points out, "After 30 years in forced illegality and exile, the ANC is seeking to reestablish itself as a publicly functioning, mass-membership organization. Mandela's speeches help educate and inspire anti-apartheid fighters in South Africa to use their new and hard-won space to practice politics in order to win a large majority to the political perspectives summed up in the Freedom Charter."

· Reading this pamphlet is an excellent way to learn more about apartheid, and the struggle to end it.

"In these speeches Mandela explains the goals of the liberation struggle and the decisive importance of interna­tional support and solid~ty in tightening the isolation of the apartheid government."

The governments of Britain, France, Greece, Spain, and the United States have lifted sanctions or are moving to­wards relaxing some of them. In his speeches to working people and meetings with government officials around the world, Mandela has continued to call for maintenance of economic sanctions against South Africa.

This is a pamphlet that belongs in the hands of the thousands that welcome Mandela to their country; young people who m:e inspired by the struggle of the South African people against' apartheid; and working people -like the Eastern and Greyhound strikers - who fmd themselves engaged in a fight. These speeches are a powerful weapon for working people and for the fight against apartheid.

Its editor, Greg McCartan, is a staff reporter for the Militant, who was recently part of a team that traveled extensively in South Africa.

In his introduction, McCartan explains, "The seven speeches by Mandela printed here have been made in South Africa and abroad since his release. Included are talks to mass rallies in Cape Town, Soweto, and Durban, as well as

McCartan explains that in Mandela's Wembley Stadium speech Aprill6, the ANC leader "saluted all those the world

The attractive pamphlet, complete with 25 footnotes at the end, was designed by Toni Gorton and includes photos by Margrethe Siem, who traveled with McCartan on the reporting team to South Africa. It is a pamphlet that shouldn't be passed up.

-LETTERS Cuba coverage

For two or three years now I have been reading your newspaper here in prison, borrowing it from other prisoners who have subscriptions. I have always wanted a subscription to it, but being an indigent inmate has kept me from trying to get one.

However, I recently . found out you have a prisoner subscription fund, which makes it possible for some prisoners to receive the Mili­tantfreeofcharge. I was just reading the article in the June 8 issue, which mentions the fund.

Believe me, I don't feel right about asking for a free subscription, knowing that you folks are hard­pressed to fulfill the prisoner re­quests. But, you see, the Militant is the only publication I have seen that consistently carries articles on Cuba. And being · Cubah I really enjoy reading about my country.

I must admit, I don't always agree with the kind of coverage you give Cuba. I find it too one-sided at times. Still, I like to keep up with the progress my country is making.

So I would much appreciate it if I could be placed on your free sub­scription list. Also if there is a pris­oner fund to the Spanish-language magazine, Perspectiva Mundial, I would like to receive it, por favor. A prisoner Crescent City, California

Informative paper I want to thank you for such an

informative paper. I find it very en­lightening to read.

I have read the Militant since July 1987. I kept up withthe ar­ticles on people whose rights have been violated, like Mark Curtis,

Correction A headline in the June 29

Militant incorrectly stated, "British Coal calls for stock­piling in case miners strike over jobs." It was the British government- not . British Coal - that issued a direc­tive to the power companies to prepare for the possibility of job actions by the National Union .of Mineworkers. Also the article indicated that the amount the government or­dered stockpiled was 27 mil­lion tons of coal, "worth £16 million." The figure should be £1 billion.

Eddie Hatcher, Nelson Mandela, and all the others. I have also kept up with how the strikers at Grey­hound and Eastern and in the United Mine Workers of America are still hanging in there, fighting for better wages and safety equip­ment.

I also have kept up with your reports and information on Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, South Af­rica, and other countries around the world. I must say your paper carries lots of true information.

But what I cannot understand is how do you gather your sources from tOrn apart countries where war is going on? I guess where there is a will there is a way.

Keep up the good work and I'll try to keep informing more people about the paper and Pathfinder books. A prisoner Gatesville, Texas

Racist harassment Six hundred Emory University

students rallied in April to protest racist harassment of a Black student, Sabrina Collins. Two months later the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has accused her of being the crimi­nal, of "staging" her harassment.

Collins had been terrorized over the course of several days. Her dor­mitory room was vandalized with racist slurs written on the walls and floor. Personal items and money were stolen. And she received death threats. The student was so trauma­tized that she had to be hospitalized for several weeks.

University officials tried to keep the crimes quiet. The police were not called nor were the racist acts publicly denounced. But Black and white students organized a protest in Collins' defense. The Emory ad­ministration then called a rally, which drew students from other At­lanta schools and some Emory caf­eteria and janitorial workers.

Speaking at the rally, Socialist Workers Party candidate for lieuten­ant governor Elizabeth Ziers spoke out against the attempts to cover up the crimes. "Emory needs an affir­mative action program with quotas to establish the fact that Black stu­dents have the right to study and live on this campus," Ziers said to ap­plause.

"The GBI slanders against Col­lins," she said, "serve to intimidate any person of an oppressed nation­ality from reporting racist crimes and demanding justice.

"No serious investigation has

been carried out, no one charged other than the victim herself, and no trial held," Ziers said. "And now Ms. Collins is being found guilty in the media."

Ziers pointed to the need for working people to demand justice for Collins. It was their mobiliza­tions in New York that led to the convictions of Joseph Fama and Keith Mondello in the murder of Yusuf Hawkins in Bensonhurst. A reader Atlanta, Georgia

What's her name? Seth Galinsky's article in the June

8 Militant begins by describing an attack by the contras in Nicaragua on Jose Francisco Gadea "and his wife." What is her name?

If Galinsky didn't know her name, I think it would have been better to omit this incident alto­gether from the article. Markie Wilson Portland, Oregon

Protest budget cuts A candlelight vigil of 250 was

held in Louisville, Kentucky, re­cently to protest county budget cuts. The cuts will affect health clinics, the Meals on Wheels J)rogram, rent and utility assistance for the dis­abled, reading programs for chil­dren, and rodent and mosquito control. More than 100 county em­ployees will be ·laid off.

The vigil was sponsored by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the county workers' union, and was joined by AFSCME members and other unionists, including from · the Amalgamated Transit Union on strike at Greyhound bus lines, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, and the tobacco and aluminum workers' unions. The unionists were also joined by others who will be affected by the cuts.

The rally was addressed by rep­resentatives of AFSCME, the Ken­tucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and the Central Labor Council. Activists from the Eastern Airlines and Greyhound strikes leafleted the crowd with in­formation about their struggles.

"This is an attempt at union-bust­ing," said Jim Nicholson, chairper­son of the committee that organized the vigil. "They're not laying off by seniority and not following the con­tract and seem to be getting rid of active unionists." Bronson Rozier Louisville, Kentucky

What about anarchism ? Recently I came into contact with

a few people attempting to expand the readership of the Militant, as well as selling Pathfmder books. I was dismayed by the fact that Path­finder only offered books with a Marxist viewpoint on the world.

All communists nowadays pro-

John Branch

mote the expression of different ideas in order to further educate the

, public. What about the libertarian and anarchist viewpoints?

If neo-Marxists believe in the ed­ucation of the people, then perhaps they should allow prominent anar­chist writers to publish materials within their organiZations. Jamie Nichols Hudson, Quebec

Keeps me in touch Thank you for the recent renewal

of my subscription to the Militant. The paper keeps me in touch with my people of Africa and the working people around the world. I'm lost without it.

Keep up the good work for all working people the world over .. A prisoner Tucker, Arkansas

The Militant special prisoner fund makes it possible to send reduced-rate subscriptions to prisoners who can't pay for them. 1b help this important cause, send your contribution to Militant Prisoner Subscription Fund, 410 ~St., New York, N.Y. 10014.

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on sub­jects of general interest to our readers. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.

July 6,1990 The Militant 15

THE MILITANT Protest at int'l AIDS conference hits discriminatory U.S. policies

HIVJA\ s VNITEDCALt

and blew whistles. Several buses arrived with protestors from as far away as Pitts­burgh, Detroit, Mex­ico, and Canada.

Behind a "Dele­gates of the Sixth In­ternational Confer­ence on AIDS" ban­ner, a contingent of thousands arrived from the conference site and joined the march about halfway through the route. To­gether marchers and delegates crowded into the downtown Justin Herman Plaza for a rally.

Militant/Eileen Koschak Fifty organizations held June 23 march in San Francisco condemning government inaction on AIDS epidemic

Speakers on the rally platform ad­dressed the points of unity agreed upon by the march organizing coalition. These in­cluded making effec­

BY EILEEN KOSCHAK SAN FRANCISCO- Carrying signs­

"Discrimination kills" and "AIDS treatment now"- and chanting "Health care is a right, not just for straight and white" and "Cut the red tape, release the drugs now," thousands of protesters marched in downtown San Francisco June 23 in a HIV-AIDS Unity March.

With international attention focused on San Francisco, the host city of the Sixth International Conference on AIDS, a coali­tion of more than 50 organizations from the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas organized the march to call attention to the U.S. government's failure to respond effec~ tively to the growing Acquired Immune De­ficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic. March arganizers estimated the crowd at 20,000, while police estimates were 5,000 to 10,000.

The demonstration highlighted a series of protests, including civil disobedience actions

with hundreds· of arrests, during the June 20-24 conference. Protests focused on spe­cific issues and were spearheaded by the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, ACI'-UP.

A June 19 demonstration at the Immigra­tion and Naturalization Service (INS) office hit U.S. immigration ' policies that restrict citizens from other countries who are in­fected with the AIDS virt.is (lflV) from en­tering the country. More than 1 ,000 people participated, shouting, "Open the borders!"

Some 500 protestors blocked downtown traffic for more than an hour June 22. They demanded more attention for women with AIDS who-have suffered from limited access to AIDS treattnent and experimental drugs.

Rainbow-colored flags, along with hun­dreds of signs and banners reading "National health care now," "Money for AIDS, not for war," and "End border restrictions now," dotted the crowd at the June 23 march. Par­ticipants clapped in unison, chanted slogans,

tive AIDS treattnent available to people de­nied them by government red tape, insurance company greed, and the profiteering of phar­maceutical companies; guaranteed civil and human rights for those infected with the mv virus; universal, quality health care for all; massive funding for increased AIDS research; and an end to discrimination based on race, sex, class, sexual orientation, national origin, or immigration status, which organizers said sabotages the fight against AIDS.

Speakers addressed the international scope of the crisis provoked by the AIDS epidemic and its connection with other social issues. Calls for unity among scientists, doctors, re­searchers, and people with AIDS by a co-chair of the AIDS conference brought on chants of "Stop the profiteering!"

·''This fight is being fought in a global context for human rights," said Arawyn Eiblyn, a national coordinator for AIDS Co­alition to Network, Organize, and Wm (ACT-

Inmates discuss world politics, socialism at meeting of groups in Arizona prison BY JUDY WHITE

PHOENIX- "We stand for internation­alism. We stand for women's rights. We stand for the dignity of the people of the world even though we are here in prison. We stand here today as representatives of the wOrking class, those who have been despised and prevented from running the world."

With these words, Balagoon Moyenda, chairman of the Mrican Culture Workshop (ACW) at the Federal Correctional Institu­tion 25 miles north of here, introduced three representatives of the Phoenix Pathfinder Bookstore.

The seventy prisoners attending the meet­ing heard a presentation by Danny Booher of the Pathfinder Bookstore on world politics today. Afterward they engaged in a lively discussion that lasted three hours.

At the initiative of the ACW, the bookstore representatives had been invited to FCI by the Black, Latino, American Indian, and Asian prisoners' organizations at the facility. This was the frrst meeting organized jointly by all the groups representing the oppressed minor­ities at FCI and its success was registered in the attendance of inmates of all colors. Rep­resentatives of each organization made brief remarks at the beginning of the program, speaking of the need for mutual respect and unity, despite cultural differences.

16 Tbe Militant Jui.Y 6, 1990

"We are here to build up the muscle of the mind," said Oba Shalrur as he opened the meeting. "This is the most powerful muscle," he continued, urging those in attendance to have an open mind.

There were questions following Booher's presentation on the character of the new Nicaraguan government and on what has happened in South Africa since Nelson Man­dela's release from prison.

"How far must economic disenfranchise­ment go before things change?" asked one prisoner. "Will the guillotine be hoisted at some time?''

The discussion began in earnest when one prisoner asked, "How can you take a stance against capitalist oppression like Mark Curtis did without picking up arms?" He pointed to a display on the case of Mark Curtis, a young packinghouse worker and socialist currently serving a 25-year sentence in the Iowa prison system on frame-up charges. This display, along with another featuring titles distributed by Pathfmder, had been brought into the prison for the event.

Many of those in attendance were familiar with Curtis' case and responded positively to a pledge by ACW President Moyenda to send a message of solidarity to Curtis from FCI inmates.

One theme that provoked considerable

debate was whether socialism and religion are compatible. Several speakers argued that religious differences are one of the tools the oppressors use to keep working people di­vided and confused about the nature of their oppression. They spoke of what Malcolm X had said about leaving one's religious beliefs at home when fighting for human rights.

The formal part of the meeting concluded with an announcement by the ACW that it would organize to see that each sponsoring organization got a subscription to the Mili­tant or P erspectiva Mundial through the pub­lications' prisoners' fund and that it would be working on ordering additional Pathfinder titles at the special discount available to workers behind bars.

One prisoner told the representatives from Phoenix he had first gotten acquainted with the Militant in Soledad prison in California in 1978.

Another, a former member of the New Jewel Movement in Grenada, had run into the paper in Brooklyn where he was living in the mid-1980s.

One inmate said he was introduced to Marxism at the federal prison in Leaven­worth, Kansas. fie assured the visitors that FCI inmates would be inviting Pathfmder to return soon to continue the discussion.

NOW). "We are part of society that doesn't value the lives of women, but continues to push them into back alleys," he said.

To cheers and applause Eiblyn pointed to Nelson Mandela as "a strong example for human rights around the world. We must reject the phoney human rights of George Bush. Mandela has symbolized hope and justice for all," he said.

Political protest became a strong current during the AIDS conference itself. For the first time, activists fighting for measures to deal with the epidemic were included as speakers at the conference.

Protest against immigration policy

Peter Staley, a member of the New York ACI'-UP chapter, spoke on the opening day of the conference and criticized President George Bush's inattention to the epidemic. When he asked everyone who disagreed with U.S. immigration policy to stand up, more than 10,000 delegates jumped to their feet. Thousands of delegates from the 120 coun­tries represented at the conference also wore red arm bands to protest the policy.

A boycott joined by some 100 organiza­tions worldwide sparked by the U.S. border restrictions cut attendance at the conference. Organizers originally projected 15,000 would attend. Under pressure, the Bush ad­ministration created 1 0-day visas for those infected with HIV to enter the country and attend the conference. But the move was rejected as insufficient by scientists from 50 countries and public health officials across the United States.

Conference organizers gathered letters signed by delegates to be sent to the White House urging a change in the INS policy. They warned that a 1992 meeting scheduled for Boston would be moved out of the coun­try if the restrictions were not dropped.

U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Ser­vices Louis Sullivan, who attempted to speak at the closing session of the conference, was met with a roar of shouts, whistles, and the blasts of air horns. Prior to the conference 36 organizations, including the American Public Health Association, the American Psychological Association, and AIDS groups, sent a letter to Sullivan saying, ''The United States still suffers without leadership from the White House and the Department

. of Health and Human Services on those issues most directly shaping the future of people with HIV infection and AIDS."

Millions infected worldwide

AIDS has claimed the lives of an estimated 83,000 people in the United States and about 1 million are believed to be infected. The AIDS virus is now spreading among wider layers of the most impoverished sections of the population where venereal diseases caus­ing genital sores are rampant and are a pri­mary source of HIV infection. This is reflected in U.S. Center for Disease Control reports that the infection rate through hetero­sexual transmission jumped 36 percent from 1988 to 1989.

Some 6 million people are believed to be infected worldwide. Underdeveloped coun­tries have been hardest hit.

"For those of us living in the part of the world where health, hygiene, basic facilities and the tools for communicating ideas are less established, the impact of AIDS is awe­some," Kenyan delegate Eunice Muringo Kiereini told the conference.

In Africa, more than 400,000 AIDS cases have been reported and 3.5 million people have been infected with HIV, including 600,000 children under the age of 5, she reported. More than a million children under 10 have mothers who are infected with AIDS.